Estimation of brain network ictogenicity predicts outcome from epilepsy surgery (original) (raw)

Quantification and selection of ictogenic zones in epilepsy surgery

2019

Network models of brain dynamics provide valuable insight into the healthy functioning of the brain and how this breaks down in disease. A pertinent example is the use of network models to understand seizure generation (ictogenesis) in epilepsy. Recently, computational models have emerged to aid our understanding of seizures and to predict the outcome of surgical perturbations to brain networks. Such approaches provide the opportunity to quantify the effect of removing regions of tissue from brain networks and thereby search for the optimal resection strategy.Here, we use computational models to elucidate how sets of nodes contribute to the ictogenicity of networks. In small networks we fully elucidate the ictogenicity of all possible sets of nodes and demonstrate that the distribution of ictogenicity across sets depends on network topology. However, the full elucidation is a combinatorial problem that becomes intractable for large networks. Therefore, we develop a global optimisati...

Dynamical Network Models From EEG and MEG for Epilepsy Surgery—A Quantitative Approach

Frontiers in Neurology

There is an urgent need for more informative quantitative techniques that non-invasively and objectively assess strategies for epilepsy surgery. Invasive intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) remains the clinical gold standard to investigate the nature of the epileptogenic zone (EZ) before surgical resection. However, there are major limitations of iEEG, such as the limited spatial sampling and the degree of subjectivity inherent in the analysis and clinical interpretation of iEEG data. Recent advances in network analysis and dynamical network modeling provide a novel aspect toward a more objective assessment of the EZ. The advantage of such approaches is that they are data-driven and require less or no human input. Multiple studies have demonstrated success using these approaches when applied to iEEG data in characterizing the EZ and predicting surgical outcomes. However, the limitations of iEEG recordings equally apply to these studies—limited spatial sampling and the implici...

Evaluating resective surgery targets in epilepsy patients: A comparison of quantitative EEG methods

Journal of neuroscience methods, 2018

Quantitative analysis of intracranial EEG is a promising tool to assist clinicians in the planning of resective brain surgery in patients suffering from pharmacoresistant epilepsies. Quantifying the accuracy of such tools, however, is nontrivial as a ground truth to verify predictions about hypothetical resections is missing. As one possibility to address this, we use customized hypotheses tests to examine the agreement of the methods on a common set of patients. One method uses machine learning techniques to enable the predictive modeling of EEG time series. The other estimates nonlinear interrelation between EEG channels. Both methods were independently shown to distinguish patients with excellent post-surgical outcome (Engel class I) from those without improvement (Engel class IV) when assessing the electrodes associated with the tissue that was actually resected during brain surgery. Using the AND and OR conjunction of both methods we evaluate the performance gain that can be ex...

Intracranial EEG structure-function coupling predicts surgical outcomes in focal epilepsy

Cornell University - arXiv, 2022

Background: Alterations to structural and functional brain networks have been reported across many neurological conditions. However, the relationship between structure and function-their coupling-is relatively unexplored, particularly in the context of an intervention. Epilepsy surgery alters the brain structure and networks to control the functional abnormality of seizures. Given that surgery is a structural modification aiming to alter the function, we hypothesized that stronger structure-function coupling, in the area to be resected, preoperatively is associated with a greater chance of post-operative seizure control. Method: We constructed structural and functional brain networks in 39 subjects with medicationresistant focal epilepsy using multimodal data from intracranial EEG (iEEG) recordings (pre-surgery), structural MRI (pre-and post-surgery), and diffusion-weighted MRI (pre-surgery). We investigated preoperative structure-function coupling at two spatial scales: a) at the global iEEG network level and b) at the resolution of individual iEEG electrode contacts using "virtual surgeries." By incorporating these structure-function coupling metrics and routine clinical variables in a cross-validated predictive model, we benchmarked their added value to predict seizure outcomes. Result: At a global network level, seizure-free individuals had stronger structure-function coupling preoperatively than those that were not seizure-free regardless of the choice of interictal segment or frequency band. At the resolution of individual iEEG contacts, the virtual surgery approach provided complementary information to localize epileptogenic tissues. In predicting seizure outcomes, structurefunction coupling measures were more important than clinical attributes, and together they predicted seizure outcomes with an accuracy of 85% and sensitivity of 87%. Conclusion: The underlying assumption that the structural changes induced by surgery translate to the functional level to control seizures is valid when the structure-functional coupling is strong. Mapping the regions that contribute to structure-functional coupling using virtual surgeries may help aid surgical planning.

High interictal connectivity within the resection zone is associated with favorable post-surgical outcomes in focal epilepsy patients

Objective: Patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy are often candidates for invasive surgical therapies. In these patients, it is necessary to accurately localize seizure-generators to ensure seizure freedom following intervention. While intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) is the gold standard for mapping networks for surgery, this approach requires inducing and recording seizures, which may cause patient morbidity. The goal of this study is to evaluate the utility of mapping interictal (non-seizure) iEEG networks to identify targets for surgical treatment. Methods: We analyze interictal iEEG recordings and neuroimaging from 27 focal epilepsy patients treated via surgical resection. We generate interictal functional networks by calculating pairwise correlation of iEEG signals across different frequency bands. We identify electrodes falling within surgically resected tissue (i.e. the resection zone), and compute node-level and edge-level synchrony in relation to the resect...

The network integration of epileptic activity in relation to surgical outcome

Clinical Neurophysiology

h i g h l i g h t s Abnormal brain network patterns in epilepsy are related to outcome after surgery. Lower network integration in patients showing a good post-surgical outcome. Isolated activity limits extent of the epileptic network in good outcome patients. a b s t r a c t Objective: Epilepsy is a network disease with epileptic activity and cognitive impairment involving largescale brain networks. A complex network is involved in the seizure and in the interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs). Directed connectivity analysis, describing the information transfer between brain regions, and graph analysis are applied to high-density EEG to characterise networks. Methods: We analysed 19 patients with focal epilepsy who had high-density EEG containing IED and underwent surgery. We estimated cortical activity during IED using electric source analysis in 72 atlas-based cortical regions of the individual brain MRI. We applied directed connectivity analysis (information Partial Directed Coherence) and graph analysis on these sources and compared patients with good vs poor post-operative outcome at global, hemispheric and lobar level. Results: We found lower network integration reflected by global, hemispheric, lobar efficiency during the IED (p < 0.05) in patients with good post-surgical outcome, compared to patients with poor outcome. Prediction was better than using the IED field or the localisation obtained by electric source imaging. Conclusions: Abnormal network patterns in epilepsy are related to seizure outcome after surgery. Significance: Our finding may help understand networks related to a more ''isolated" epileptic activity, limiting the extent of the epileptic network in patients with subsequent good post-operative outcome.

Intracranial EEG Structure-Function Coupling and Seizure Outcomes After Epilepsy Surgery

Neurology

Background and Objectives Surgery is an effective treatment for drug-resistant epilepsy, which modifies the brain's structure and networks to regulate seizure activity. Our objective was to examine the relationship between brain structure and function to determine the extent to which this relationship affects the success of the surgery in controlling seizures. We hypothesized that a stronger association between brain structure and function would lead to improved seizure control after surgery. Methods We constructed functional and structural brain networks in patients with drug-resistant focal epilepsy by using presurgery functional data from intracranial EEG (iEEG) recordings, presurgery and postsurgery structural data from T1-weighted MRI, and presurgery diffusion-weighted MRI. We quantified the relationship (coupling) between structural and functional connectivity by using the Spearman rank correlation and analyzed this structure-function coupling at 2 spatial scales: (1) glob...

Elevated Ictal Brain Network Ictogenicity Enables Prediction of Optimal Seizure Control

Frontiers in neurology, 2018

Recent studies have shown that mathematical models can be used to analyze brain networks by quantifying how likely they are to generate seizures. In particular, we have introduced the quantity termed brain network ictogenicity (BNI), which was demonstrated to have the capability of differentiating between functional connectivity (FC) of healthy individuals and those with epilepsy. Furthermore, BNI has also been used to quantify and predict the outcome of epilepsy surgery based on FC extracted from pre-operative ictal intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG). This modeling framework is based on the assumption that the inferred FC provides an appropriate representation of an ictogenic network, i.e., a brain network responsible for the generation of seizures. However, FC networks have been shown to change their topology depending on the state of the brain. For example, topologies during seizure are different to those pre- and post-seizure. We therefore sought to understand how these ...

Structural brain network abnormalities and the probability of seizure recurrence after epilepsy surgery

Neurology, 2020

Objective:We assessed pre-operative structural brain networks and clinical characteristics of patients with drug resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) to identify correlates of post-surgical seizure recurrences.Methods:We examined data from 51 TLE patients who underwent anterior temporal lobe resection (ATLR) and 29 healthy controls. For each patient, using the pre-operative structural, diffusion, and post-operative structural MRI, we generated two networks: ‘pre-surgery’ network and ‘surgically-spared’ network. Standardising these networks with respect to controls, we determined the number of abnormal nodes before surgery and expected to be spared by surgery. We incorporated these 2 abnormality measures and 13 commonly acquired clinical data from each patient in a robust machine learning framework to estimate patient-specific chances of seizures persisting after surgery.Results:Patients with more abnormal nodes had lower chance of complete seizure freedom at 1 year and even if sei...

Interictal spike networks predict surgical outcome in patients with drug‐resistant focal epilepsy

Annals of Clinical and Translational Neurology, 2021

Objective: To determine if properties of epileptic networks could be delineated using interictal spike propagation seen on stereo-electroencephalography (SEEG) and if these properties could predict surgical outcome in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. Methods: We studied the SEEG of 45 consecutive drug-resistant epilepsy patients who underwent subsequent epilepsy surgery: 18 patients with good postsurgical outcome (Engel I) and 27 with poor outcome (Engel II-IV). Epileptic networks were derived from interictal spike propagation; these networks described the generation and propagation of interictal epileptic activity. We compared the regions in which spikes were frequent and the regions responsible for generating spikes to the area of resection and post-surgical outcome. We developed a measure termed source spike concordance, which integrates information about both spike rate and region of spike generation. Results: Inclusion in the resection of regions with high spike rate is associated with good post-surgical outcome (sensitivity = 0.82, specificity = 0.73). Inclusion in the resection of the regions responsible for generating interictal epileptic activity independently of rate is also associated with good post-surgical outcome (sensitivity = 0.88, specificity = 0.82). Finally, when integrating the spike rate and the generators, we find that the source spike concordance measure has strong predictability (sensitivity = 0.91, specificity = 0.94). Interpretations: Epileptic networks derived from interictal spikes can determine the generators of epileptic activity. Inclusion of the most active generators in the resection is strongly associated with good post-surgical outcome. These epileptic networks may aid clinicians in determining the area of resection during pre-surgical evaluation.