In brain tumor surgery, MEG helps surgeons to precisely plan and execute operations by distinguishing between tumor tissue and important functional brain areas, such as those responsible for sensory, motor, auditory, visual, and language processing. This minimizes the risk of inadvertently damaging healthy brain tissue during surgery, thereby preserving these important functions and improving overall patient outcome.
The results of MEG functional mapping in a patient with a brain tumor within the upper portion of the middle of the left hemisphere. The blue squares show the brain area identified by MEG as responsible for hand sensation, the yellow triangle represents the brain area for right lower lip sensation, and the white triangles represent brain areas involved in the hearing of sounds. The tumor was just behind the brain area for left hand sensation. These MEG results provided cautionary information to the neurosurgeon about risk to left hand sensory function while performing tumor removal.