Movie-Watching Functional MRI for Mapping Brain Function in Neurosurgical Patients

Naturalistic Neuroimaging for Neurosurgical Brain Mapping

This research will compare a new type of functional MRI (fMRI) called naturalistic viewing (also called movie watching) to standard clinical fMRI techniques. Standard clinical fMRI currently uses multiple tasks such as reading and responding to words or sentences to determine which areas of the brain are responsible for language. Surgeons can use this information to help plan brain surgeries. This research will help determine if the movie-watching fMRI is equivalent or better than the standard task-based fMRI. If so, it could be useful for planning patients' surgeries in the future, without the need for multiple tasks.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Any sex, age between 21 to 70 years;
• Known or suspected glioma (lesion) of the brain;
• English speaking;
• Patients with clinical fMRI scheduled (or pending scheduling) for presurgical planning at BWH ordered by a BWH clinician;
• Passes prescreening and standard of care screenings for 3 Tesla MRI;
• Willing to participate in the additional study scan and neuropsychological assessment visit;
• Informed consent form signed by the subject or legally acceptable representative.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Contraindications to MRI: Note: MRI screening will be performed by radiology staff as part of their standard process for their clinical scans and if subjects do not pass the screen, MRI will not be performed.
• Pregnancy or possible pregnancy: Female participants under 55 (or 45 with menstrual cycle in the past 12 months) who may be pregnant. Per policy: potential subjects will be asked if they are pregnant and excluded if they say yes. If unsure, pregnancy testing will be performed. Any subjects with positive result will be excluded.