Mapping Functional Language Areas with non-Functional Brain MRI

Omri Leshem, Atira Sara Bick, Nahum Kiryati, Netta Levin, Arnaldo Mayer

Keywords: Deep Learning, Multi-modal, fMRI, Brain Mapping, Neurosurgical Planning

Abstract: Mapping eloquent brain areas has become a standard of care in brain surgery. Current imaging-based techniques usually rely on functional MRI (fMRI), which measures neural activity via the blood oxygenation level-dependent signal. fMRI protocols are time-intensive, require active patient collaboration, and involve laborious manual post-processing and expertise, making them difficult to implement in some clinical scenarios. In this research, we propose a fully automated deep neural pipeline for the mapping of Broca and Wernicke functional language areas using multiple non-functional MRI modalities. The proposed method is evaluated on a cohort of 30 drug-resistant epilepsy patients, showing encouraging qualitative and quantitative results and suggesting its potential applicability as an effective and practical tool for neurosurgical planning and navigation. Implementation details can be found in our GitHub.

Primary Subject Area: Application: Neuroimaging

Secondary Subject Area: Application: Radiology

Paper Type: Both

Registration Requirement: Yes

Reproducibility: https://github.com/OmriLeshem1234/Mapping-Functional-Language-Areas-with-non-Functional-Brain-MRI

Visa & Travel: Yes

Midl Latex Submission Checklist: Ensure no LaTeX errors during compilation., Created a single midl25_NNN.zip file with midl25_NNN.tex, midl25_NNN.bib, all necessary figures and files., Includes \documentclass{midl}, \jmlryear{2025}, \jmlrworkshop, \jmlrvolume, \editors, and correct \bibliography command., Did not override options of the hyperref package, Did not use the times package., All authors and co-authors are correctly listed with proper spelling and avoid Unicode characters., Author and institution details are de-anonymized where needed. All author names, affiliations, and paper title are correctly spelled and capitalized in the biography section., References must use the .bib file. Did not override the bibliographystyle defined in midl.cls. Did not use \begin{thebibliography} directly to insert references., Tables and figures do not overflow margins; avoid using \scalebox; used \resizebox when needed., Included all necessary figures and removed *unused* files in the zip archive., Removed special formatting, visual annotations, and highlights used during rebuttal., All special characters in the paper and .bib file use LaTeX commands (e.g., \'e for é)., Appendices and supplementary material are included in the same PDF after references., Main paper does not exceed 9 pages; acknowledgements, references, and appendix start on page 10 or later.

Submission Number: 102