Interictal spikes in the fusiform and inferior temporal gyri of an epileptic patient with colored elementary visual auras: a 5-year longitudinal MEG ECD study.

Using equivalent current dipole (ECD) analysis of magnetoencephalography (MEG), we examined the locations of interictal spikes for 5 years in an epileptic patient who had experienced colored elementary visual auras that gradually disappeared with medication. During the period that the patient frequently experienced colored elementary visual auras, six of nine spikes occurred in the right fusiform and inferior temporal gyri. As the frequency of the visual auras decreased, the spikes were widely distributed in the right hemisphere, but were not localized to these areas. After the visual auras ceased, six of seven spikes occurred in the right transverse gyrus of Heschl. These results suggest that colored elementary visual auras of epileptic-positive symptoms originate in the fusiform and inferior temporal gyri and that these regions are involved in human color processing. This is the first MEG study suggesting that the fusiform gyrus and the inferior temporal cortex are related to human color processing.