Brain Mapping: From Neural Basis of Cognition to Surgical Applications

The goal of this book is to make a link between fundamental research in the field of cognitive neurosciences, which now benefits from a better knowledge of the neural foundations of cerebral processing, and its clinical application, especially in neurosurgery – itself able to provide new insights into brain organization.

The anatomical bases are presented, advances and limitations of the different methods of functional cerebral mapping are discussed, updated models of sensorimotor, visuospatial, language, memory, emotional, and executive functions are explained in detail. In the light of these data, new strategies of surgical management of cerebral lesions are proposed, with an optimization of the benefit–risk ratio of surgery. Finally, perspectives about brain connectivity and plasticity are discussed on the basis of translational studies involving serial functional neuroimaging, intraoperative cortico-subcortical electrical mapping, and biomathematical modeling of interactions between parallel distributed neural networks.

Professor Hugues DUFFAU, M.D., Ph.D., is Chairman of the
Department of Neurosurgery, Gui de Chauliac Hospital,
Montpellier University Medical Center and Director of the Team "Brain plasticity, human stem cells and glial tumors" at INSERM U583, Institute for Neurosciences in Montpellier, France