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NCT Number: NCT07650994

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

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.

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Key information

Age range

21 year–70 year

Sex eligibility

All sexes

Study type

Interventional

Phase

Not applicable

Primary location

Who can participate

Healthy volunteers accepted: No

Only the study team can determine whether someone qualifies for participation.

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.

Treatment and study plan

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI)

Other

Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) is a type of non-invasive imaging that measures blood oxygen level-dependent (BOLD) signal changes in the brain when a task is performed (such as reading) or BOLD signal changes during resting or watching naturalistic stimuli (such as movie clips).

Other names: fMRI

Neuropsychological Assessments

Behavioral

Neuropsychological assessments are standardized tests used to evaluate cognitive, behavioral, and emotional functions that reflect the performance of different brain systems. These tests can be on paper or on a computer.

Primary outcomes

  1. Language localization

    Time frame: From enrollment to up to 6 months after brain surgery.

    Sensitivity and specificity based on the proportion of activation within and outside of language regions-of-interest (ROIs).

  2. Language lateralization

    Time frame: From enrollment to up to 6 months after brain surgery.

    Laterality index (LI) based on proportion of activation in the left vs. right hemisphere in language regions-of-interest (ROIs).

  3. FMRI language activations concordance with language fiber tracts

    Time frame: From enrollment to up to 6 months after brain surgery.

    Concordance with language fiber tracts identified by diffusion MRI in terms of the Euclidean distance between fMRI language activations and the tracts.

Secondary outcomes

  1. Quality metrics based on electrocortical stimulation (ECS)

    Time frame: From enrollment to up to 6 months after brain surgery.

    Sensitivity and specificity computed relative to ECS positive/negative areas.

Study contacts

Contact information is provided by the study sponsor or research team.

Laura Rigolo

CONTACT

[email protected]

617-732-5192

Yanmei Tie, PhD

CONTACT

[email protected]

617-378-2649

Sponsors and collaborators

Lead sponsor

Brigham and Women's Hospital

Other

Collaborators

  • National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Registry information

Official study title

Naturalistic Neuroimaging for Neurosurgical Brain Mapping

Important dates

Study start
2026
Primary completion
2029
Study completion
2029
First posted
Jun 16, 2026
Registry last updated
Jun 22, 2026

OpenTrials presents study information sourced from ClinicalTrials.gov. The official registry record should be consulted for the latest information.

View the official ClinicalTrials.gov record (opens in a new tab)

This listing is for discovery and informational purposes only. It is not medical advice, does not guarantee that a study is recruiting, and does not determine eligibility. Contact the study team and a qualified healthcare professional when considering participation.

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