Comprehensive World Brain Mapping Course-Mapping Executive and Mental Function

Video Transcription

Video Summary

In this video, a clinician neuropsychologist and researcher from France discusses new interoperative procedures used to map cognitive functions in brain surgery. The goal of the surgery is to map and spare critical cortical epicenters and white matter connections to preserve brain function and quality of life. Plasticity, the brain's ability to adapt and reorganize, is strong in glioma patients, allowing for radical resection without severe neuropsychological impairment. The speaker discusses mapping motor, sensory, and language functions to avoid deficits after surgery. They also emphasize the importance of preserving mentalizing, which is the ability to understand the mental states of others. Mentalizing impairment can lead to social behavior issues seen in conditions like autism spectrum disorders and schizophrenia. The speaker explains how they use a mentalizing test during awake surgery to map critical cortical and subcortical sites involved in mentalizing. They also discuss mapping nonverbal semantic cognition and reading in the right hemisphere. The video concludes by emphasizing the importance of assessing and preserving a range of functions beyond language and motor skills to ensure a good quality of life after surgery.

Asset Subtitle

Guillaume Herbert, MD, PhD

Keywords

brain surgery

cognitive functions

plasticity

mentalizing

awake surgery

language functions

motor skills