The intracarotid amobarbital (or Amytal) procedure is commonly referred to as the Wada test in tribute to Juhn Wada, the physician who devised the technique and performed the fIrst basic animal research and clinical studies with this method. Wada testing has become an integral part of the pre operative evaluation for epilepsy surgery. Interestingly, however, Wada initially developed this method as a technique to assess language dominance in psychiatric patients in order that electroconvulsant therapy could be applied unilaterally to the non-dominant hemisphere. Epilepsy surgery has matured as a viable treatment for intractable seizures and is no longer confmed to a few major universities and medical institutes. Yet, as is increasingly clear by examining the surveys of approaches used by epilepsy surgery centers (e.g., Rausch, 1987; Snyder, Novelly, & Harris, 1990), there is not only great heterogeneity in the methods used during Wada testing to assess language and memory functions, but there also seems to be a lack of consensus regarding the theoretical assumptions, and perhaps, even the goals of this procedure.
Authors and Affiliations
Section of Behavioral Neurology Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, USA
David W. Loring,
Kimford J. Meador
Department of Psychiatry and Department of Surgery (Neurosurgery), Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, USA
Gregory P. Lee
Epilepsy Diagnostic and Treatment Unit Department of Neurology, Medical College of Georgia, Augusta, USA
Don W. King
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Amobarbital Effects and Lateralized Brain Function
Book Subtitle: The Wada Test
Authors: David W. Loring, Kimford J. Meador, Gregory P. Lee, Don W. King