Interictal Epileptiform Discharges Relate to 1H-MRS-detected Metabolic Abnormalities in Mesial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (original) (raw)
Metabolic changes and electro-clinical patterns in mesio-temporal lobe epilepsy: a correlative study
Brain, 2004
Interictal hypometabolism is commonly found in mesiotemporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE), but its pathophysiology remains incompletely understood. We hypothesized that metabolic changes re¯ect the preferential networks involved by ictal discharges. We analysed the topography of interictal hypometabolism according to electro-clinical patterns in 50 patients with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis (HS) and consistent features of MTLE. Based on electro-clinical correlations, we identi-®ed four groups: (i) mesial group (13 cases) characterized by mesial seizure onset without evidence of early spread beyond the temporal lobe; (ii) anterior mesiolateral group (AML; 18 cases) with early anterior spread involving the anterior lateral temporal cortex and insulo-fronto-opercular areas; (iii) widespread mesio-lateral group (WML; 15 cases) with wide spread (involving both anterior and posterior lateral temporal and perisylvian areas); and (iv) bitemporal (BT) group (four cases) with early contralateral temporal spread. Results of [ 18 F]¯uorodeoxyglucose-PET imaging in each group were compared with those of 10 control subjects using statistical parametric mapping software (SPM99).
Epilepsy Research, 2004
Introduction: Proton magnetic resonance spectroscopy ( 1 H MRS) has been proposed as a lateralizing method for the presurgical evaluation of patients with medically intractable temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Studies have shown correlations between temporal lobe (TL) NAA and seizure frequency, and TL NAA/Cr and the duration of epilepsy in patients with TLE. This latter finding may suggest that progressive neuronal dysfunction may occur in both temporal lobes in patients with TLE, even when the seizures originate in only one temporal lobe. We analyzed our data in an attempt to find a possible correlation between extension of neuronal dysfunction based on NAA measures and duration of epilepsy. Methods: We studied 45 consecutive patients with the diagnosis of TLE, who were referred for presurgical evaluation. Duration of epilepsy was defined as the interval between the age of seizure onset and the time of the MRS examination. All studies were performed in the inter-ictal state, prior to intracranial monitoring or resection. We performed two-tailed Pearson correlation analysis between ipsilateral NAA/Cr and extension of the abnormality (voxels involved) and the duration of the seizure disorder in years. Results: The average duration of epilepsy in this group was 20 years. No significant correlation was found between duration of epilepsy and mean hippocampal NAA/Cr (r = −.131, p = .390); nor was a correlation found between duration of epilepsy in years or the extent of metabolic lesion (voxels involved) (r = −.264, p = .079). Conclusions: Hippocampal NAA/Cr does not correlate with duration of epilepsy in TLE. Our findings suggest that cross-sectional group measures of hippocampal neuronal function do not suggest damage progression.
2007
In this study, hippocampal metabolite alterations in 1 H-MR spectroscopy ( 1 H-MRS) were correlated to the findings of intensive video-EEG monitoring and duration of seizure symptoms in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Methods: The 14 patients with mesial TLE and no pathological findings in imaging were investigated by 1 H-MRS. Seizures were analyzed by: number of clinical seizures in 24 h, exact duration of clinical symptoms in 24 h, frequency of interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) and ictal activity, duration of ictal activity, and IEDs occurring within 24 h in intensive EEG monitoring. Pearson Correlation Coefficient (PCC) was calculated between spectral metabolite alterations and the parameters mentioned above. Results: In the analysis, a negative correlation was found between total (t) NAA values and degree of IEDs in EEG (p = 0.04); a positive correlation was found between Cr levels and duration of seizure symptoms registered by video monitoring (p = 0.01). Conclusions: Our study shows that, in some patients, 1 H-MRS is able to refer the severity of TLE. The degree of tNAA reduction in 1 H-MRS, probably indicating neuronal dysfunction, is associated with interictal spiking in intensive EEG monitoring. Duration of seizure symptoms associated with increased Cr peaks probably reflects increased gliosis.
Identification of Abnormal Neuronal Metabolism Outside the Seizure Focus in Temporal Lobe Epilepsy
Epilepsia, 2004
A Summary Purpose-The aim of this study was to identify metabolically abnormal extrahippocampal brain regions in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy with (TLE-MTS) and without (TLE-no) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) evidence for mesial-temporal sclerosis (MTS) and to assess their value for focus lateralization by using multislice 1 H magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI).
MRS shows syndrome differentiated metabolite changes in human-generalized epilepsies
NeuroImage, 2004
While it is generally accepted that the thalamo-cortical loop is abnormal in idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE), it is uncertain whether this loop is similarly affected among different IGE syndromes. We recently demonstrated reduced frontal lobe levels of N-acetyl aspartate (NAA) in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME). The present follow-up study investigates if similar or other types of changes exist in subjects with pure primarily generalized tonic clonic epilepsy (GTCS). Method: Twenty patients with GTCS, 26 patients with JME, and 10 matched healthy controls were investigated with quantitative single voxel MR spectroscopy (MRS) measurements of NAA, choline (Cho), creatine (Cr), and myo-inositol (mI) at 1.5 T scanner. The voxels were placed over the right cerebellum, right thalamus, prefrontal, occipital cortex, and over a spherical phantom above the subject's head. Results: Patients with JME had reduced frontal lobe NAA (mmol/l) in relation to controls (9.8 F 1.1 vs. 10.8 F 0.7, P = 0.01), as well as GTCS patients (9.8 F 1.1 vs. 10.6 F 0.7, P = 0.007), whose values were normal. Patients with GTCS, on the other hand, showed significantly lower thalamic NAA than controls (9.7 F 1.0 vs. 10.8 F 0.9, P = 0.002), and both groups of patients had reduced thalamic Cho, and mI; [Cho: 2.0 F 0.4 (control) vs. 1.61 F 0.3 (JME) P = 0.001, and vs. 1.57 F 0.3 (GTCS) P = 0.0005; MI: 4.8 F 1.5, (control) vs. 3.3 F 1.4 (JME) P = 0.003, and vs. 3.2 F 1.5 (GTCS), P = 0.002]. No other regional changes were observed. Conclusion: The present MRS data emphasize the involvement of thalamus in IGE. They also show partly differentiated alterations within the thalamocortical loop in JME vs. GTCS. The various clinical expressions of IGE may, thus, be associated with more localized neuroanatomical substrates than generally believed.
Clinical Neurophysiology, 2006
Objective: We have investigated intracerebral propagation of interictal epileptiform discharges (IED) in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) by using spatiotemporal source maps based on statistical nonparametric mapping (SNPM) of low resolution electromagnetic tomography (LORETA) values. Methods: We analyzed 30 patterns of IED recorded simultaneously with scalp and intracranial foramen ovale (FO) electrodes in 15 consecutive patients with intractable MTLE. The scalp EEG signals were averaged time-locked to the peak activity in bilateral 10-contact FO electrode recordings. SNPM was applied to LORETA values and spatiotemporal source maps were created by allocating the t-values over time to their corresponding Brodmann areas. Propagation was defined as secondary statistically significant involvement of distinct cortical areas separated by >15 ms. The results were correlated with intracranial data obtained from FO electrode recordings and with scalp EEG recordings. All patients underwent subsequent amygdalo-hippocampectomy and outcome was assessed one year after surgery. Results: We found mesial to lateral propagation in 6/30 IED patterns (20%, four patients), lateral to mesial propagation in 4/30 IED patterns (13.3%, four patients) and simultaneous (within 15 ms) activation of mesial and lateral temporal areas in 6/30 IED patterns (20%, five patients). Propagation generally occurred within 30 ms and was always limited to ipsilateral cortical regions. Nine/30 IED patterns (30%) showed restricted activation of mesial temporal structures and no significant solutions were found in 5/30 IED patterns (16.7%). There was no clear association between the number or characteristics of IED patterns and the postsurgical outcome. Conclusions: Spatiotemporal mapping of SNPM LORETA accurately describes mesial to lateral temporal propagation of IED, and vice versa, which commonly occur in patients with MTLE. Significance: Intracerebral propagation must be considered when using non-invasive source algorithms in patients with MTLE. Spatiotemporal mapping might be useful for visualizing this propagation.
Brain, 2008
The identification of brain regions generating seizures ('epileptogenic zone' , EZ) in patients with refractory partial epilepsy is crucial prior to surgery. During pre-surgical evaluation, this identification can be performed from the analysis of intracerebral EEG. In particular, the presence of high-frequency oscillations, often referred to as 'rapid discharges' , has long been recognized as a characteristic electrophysiological pattern of the EZ. However, to date, there has been no attempt to make use of this specific pattern to quantitatively evaluate the degree of epileptogenicity in recorded structures. A novel quantitative measure that characterizes the epileptogenicity of brain structures recorded with depth electrodes is presented. This measure, called 'Epileptogenicity Index' (EI), is based on both spectral (appearance of fast oscillations replacing the background activity) and temporal (delay of appearance with respect to seizure onset) properties of intracerebral EEG signals. EI values were computed in mesial and lateral structures of the temporal lobe in a group of 17 patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). Statistically high EI values corresponded to structures involved early in the ictal process and producing rapid discharges at seizure onset. In all patients, these high values were obtained in more than one structure of the temporal lobe region. In the majority of patients, highest EI values were computed from signals recorded in mesial structures. In addition, when averaged over patients, EI values gradually decreased from structure to structure. For lateral neocortex, higher EI values were found in patients with normal MRI, in contrast with patients with hippocampal sclerosis. In this former subgroup of patients, a greater number of epileptogenic structures was also found. A statistically significant correlation was found between the duration of epilepsy and the number of structures disclosing high epileptogenicity suggesting that MTLE is a gradually evolving process in which the epileptogenicity of the temporal lobe tends to increase with time.
Journal of Neurology, 2013
Focal onset epilepsies most often occur in the temporal lobes. To improve diagnosis and therapy of patients suffering from pharmacoresistant temporal lobe epilepsy it is highly important to better understand the underlying functional and structural networks. In mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) widespread functional networks are involved in seizure generation and propagation. In this study we have analyzed the spatial distribution of hemodynamic correlates (HC) to interictal epileptiform discharges on simultaneous EEG/fMRI recordings and relative grey matter volume (rGMV) reductions in 10 patients with MTLE. HC occurred beyond the seizure onset zone in the hippocampus, in the ipsilateral insular/operculum, temporo-polar and lateral neocortex, cerebellum, along the central sulcus and bilaterally in the cingulate gyrus. rGMV reductions were detected in the middle temporal gyrus, inferior temporal gyrus and uncus to the hippocampus, the insula, the posterior cingulate and the anterior lobe of the cerebellum. Overlaps between HC and decreased rGMV were detected along the mesolimbic network ipsilateral to the seizure onset zone. We conclude that interictal epileptic activity in MTLE induces widespread metabolic changes in functional networks involved in MTLE seizure activity. These functional networks are spatially overlapping with areas that show a reduction in relative grey matter volumes.