Intracarotid amobarbital procedure - The Wada test

This article reviews Wada testing and its use in the evaluation of temporal lobectomy patients. The history of the procedure is briefly reviewed, followed by a discussion of language and memory evaluation, testing in children, and the Medical College of Georgia Wada protocol. The Wada test is effective in lateralizing seizure onset, predicting a postoperative seizure control, and predicting degree of verbal memory decline following left temporal lobectomy. The validity of Wada test data has also been supported by correlations between Wada memory performance and hippocampal pyramidal cell loss or hippocampal volumes determined by magnetic resonance imaging.