Medical Dictionary

Wada test

noun Wa·da test \ ˈwä-də- \

medical Definition of Wada test

: a procedure for identifying which hemisphere of the brain is dominant for language and memory function and that typically involves anesthetizing one hemisphere at a time (as by the injection of amobarbital into the internal carotid artery) and having the patient perform several cognitive tasks (such as identifying words or pictures or counting backwards)

… a Wada test, is performed before neurosurgery to protect important brain processing centers from disturbance.
—Jamie Talan, Newsday, 29 Jan. 2002

Biographical Note for wada test

Wada, Juhn Atsushi (born 1924), Canadian (Japanese-born) neurologist. Wada held the concurrent positions of professor of neurology at the University of British Columbia and attending neurologist at Vancouver General Hospital. His areas of research included epilepsy and the brain mechanisms of human behavior. He introduced the Wada test for determining which side of the brain is dominant for speech in 1960.