Somatosensory, auditory, and visual evoked magnetic fields in patients with brain diseases.

The features of somatosensory (SEFs), auditory (AEFs), and visual evoked fields (VEFs) in healthy subjects and patients with brain diseases provide the basis for clinical investigations using magnetoencephalography (MEG). The SEFs provide clinically useful information to identify the central sulcus and somatotopic organization of the primary somatosensory cortex. Localization accuracy of the SEFs can be tested by cortical stimulation during surgery. Functional reorganization suggested by SEF studies must be verified by other modalities. The AEFs can localize the auditory cortex in the bilateral temporal lobes. Separation of bilateral activities is much clearer in AEFs than in auditory evoked potentials. Modulation of the interhemispheric differences of latency, amplitude, and source localization of AEFs can be used to evaluate auditory function in patients with intracranial lesions. Pattern reversal VEFs provide stable localization of the primary visual function. Separation of bihemispherical activities is the advantage of VEFs over visual evoked potentials. Investigation of VEFs provides objective evaluation of visual field deficits such as homonymous or bitemporal hemianopsia in patients with intracranial lesions. Evoked magnetic fields can provide useful diagnostic information. Such clinical findings, in turn, provides the opportunity to test the source estimation accuracy of MEG.