The effect of structural white matter abnormalities on the clinical course of epilepsy (original) (raw)

OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was to assess the impact of the extent of brain white matter lesions on the development of cognitive and psychoemotional disorders, and to investigate correlations between the degree of integration of brain pathway structures and the clinical features of epilepsy. MATERIAL AND METHODS Forty-six epileptic patients (36 with pharmacoresistant epilepsy and 10 who had been in remission for over a year) and 10 normal volunteers (the control group) were examined. To evaluate diffusion tensor MRI findings, the index of fractional anisotropy (FA) and index of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) were used. For an intergroup comparison of DTI data, the Mann-Whitney test was used, criterion; correlation analysis was performed using the Spearman rank correlation coefficient. The threshold of statistical significance was set at р < 0.05. RESULTS A significant difference was noted in the ADC data on the side of the epileptic focus in the patients in persistent ...