Synergy of a Combined Near-Infrared Spectroscopy and Blood Oxygenation Level–Dependent Functional Activation Study

functional neuroanatomic studies by Broca described the association of the left cerebral hemi-sphere with language function. More recent inves-tigations have included invasive optical techniques applied in conjunction with neurosurgery and, to a lesser degree, noninvasive optical techniques based on near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). Functional MR (fMR) imaging studies with blood oxygenation level – dependent (BOLD) contrast provide the ad-vantage of high spatial resolution and association of the functional data with anatomic structure. These techniques have elicited widespread interest and found application in the investigation of nor-mal brain function as well as a range of disease processes and are increasingly employed in the clin