Recent studies have shown that it is feasible to record simultaneously intracerebral EEG (icEEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) in patients with epilepsy. While it has mainly been ...used to explore the hemodynamic changes associated with epileptic spikes, this approach could also provide new insight into human cognition. However, the first step is to ensure that cognitive EEG components, that have lower amplitudes than epileptic spikes, can be appropriately detected under fMRI. We compared the high frequency activities (HFA, 50-150Formula: see textHz) elicited by a reading task in icEEG-only and subsequent icEEG-fMRI in the same patients (Formula: see text), implanted with depth electrodes. Comparable responses were obtained, with 71% of the recording sites that responded during the icEEG-only session also responding during the icEEG-fMRI session. For all the remaining sites, nearby clusters (distant of 7Formula: see textmm or less) also demonstrated significant HFA increase during the icEEG-fMRI session. Significant HFA increases were also observable at the single-trial level in icEEG-fMRI recordings. Our results show that low-amplitude icEEG signal components such as cognitive-induced HFAs can be reliably recorded with simultaneous fMRI. This paves the way for the use of icEEG-fMRI to address various fundamental and clinical issues, notably the identification of the neural correlates of the BOLD signal.
•We investigated working memory in patients with ECTS and age-matched controls using a verbal working memory task.•Children with ECTS showed altered behavioral and fMRI responses to verbal working ...with increasing difficulty level.•Children with ECTS demonstrated reduced capacity to sustain high WM load.
Previous functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) studies have identified brain systems underlying different components of working memory (WM) in healthy subjects. The aim of this study was to compare the functional integrity of these neural networks in children with self-limited childhood epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes (ECTS) as compared to healthy controls, using a verbal working memory task (WMT).
Functional MRI of WM in seventeen 6-to-13 year-old children, diagnosed with ECTS, and 17 sex- and age-matched healthy controls were conducted at 3 T. To estimate BOLD responses during the maintenance of low, medium, and high WMT loads, we used a Sternberg verbal WMT. Neuropsychological testing prior to scanning and behavioral data during scanning were also acquired.
Behavioral performances during WMT, in particular accuracy and response time, were poorer in children with ECTS than in controls. Increased WM load was associated with increased BOLD signal in all subjects, with significant clusters detected in frontal and parietal regions, predominantly in the left hemisphere. However, under the high load condition, patients showed reduced activation in the frontal, temporal and parietal regions as compared to controls. In brain regions where WM-triggered BOLD activation differed between groups, this activation correlated with neuropsychological performances in healthy controls but not in patients with ECTS, further suggesting WM network dysfunction in the latter.
Children with ECTS differ from healthy controls in how they control WM processes during tasks with increasing difficulty level, notably for high WM load where patients demonstrate both reduced BOLD activation and behavioral performances.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Benign childhood epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes (BCECTS) is a unique form of non-lesional age-dependent epilepsy with rare seizures, focal electroencepalographic abnormalities affecting the ...same well delineated cortical region in most patients, and frequent mild to moderate cognitive dysfunctions. In this condition, it is hypothesized that interictal electroencepalographic discharges might interfere with local brain maturation, resulting in altered cognition. Diffusion tensor imaging allows testing of this hypothesis by investigating the white matter microstructure, and has previously proved sensitive to epilepsy-related alterations of fractional anisotropy and diffusivity. However, no diffusion tensor imaging study has yet been performed with a focus on BCECTS. We investigated 25 children suffering from BCECTS and 25 age-matched control subjects using diffusion tensor imaging, 3D-T1 magnetic resonance imaging, and a battery of neuropsychological tests including Conner's scale and Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children (fourth revision). Electroencephalography was also performed in all patients within 2 months of the magnetic resonance imaging assessment. Parametric maps of fractional anisotropy, mean-, radial-, and axial diffusivity were extracted from diffusion tensor imaging data. Patients were compared with control subjects using voxel-based statistics and family-wise error correction for multiple comparisons. Each patient was also compared to control subjects. Fractional anisotropy and diffusivity images were correlated to neuropsychological and clinical variables. Group analysis showed significantly reduced fractional anisotropy and increased diffusivity in patients compared with control subjects, predominantly over the left pre- and postcentral gyri and ipsilateral to the electroencephalographic focus. At the individual level, regions of significant differences were observed in 10 patients (40%) for anisotropy (eight reduced fractional anisotropy, one increased fractional anisotropy, one both), and 17 (56%) for diffusivity (13 increased, one reduced, three both). There were significant negative correlations between fractional anisotropy maps and duration of epilepsy in the precentral gyri, bilaterally, and in the left postcentral gyrus. Accordingly, 9 of 12 patients (75%) with duration of epilepsy>12 months showed significantly reduced fractional anisotropy versus none of the 13 patients with duration of epilepsy≤12 months. Diffusivity maps positively correlated with duration of epilepsy in the cuneus. Children with BCECTS demonstrate alterations in the microstructure of the white matter, undetectable with conventional magnetic resonance imaging, predominating over the regions displaying chronic interictal epileptiform discharges. The association observed between diffusion tensor imaging changes, duration of epilepsy and cognitive performance appears compatible with the hypothesis that interictal epileptic activity alters brain maturation, which could in turn lead to cognitive dysfunction. However, such cross-sectional association does not demonstrate causality, and other hitherto unidentified factors could represent the common cause to part or all of the observed findings.
Summary
Objective
We hypothesized that children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BCECTS) might have altered social cognitive skills and underlying neural networks.
Methods
...We studied 13 patients with BCECTS and 11 age‐matched controls using event‐related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) with an emotional discrimination task consisting of viewing happy, fearful, scrambled, and neutral faces. Behavioral performance measured during the task was correlated with clinical variables and behavioral ratings.
Results
In comparison with age‐matched controls, children with BCECTS performing a fearful faces detection task showed significantly reduced bilateral fMRI activation in the insular cortex, caudate, and lentiform nuclei, as well as increased response time. The percentage of errors made by children with BCECTS correlated negatively with age, a finding not observed in controls. In patients, accuracy positively correlated with time since the last seizure. The above abnormalities were not observed during happy faces detection task, except for a slower response in children with BCECTS as compared to controls.
Significance
Our study suggests that BCECTS is associated with altered social cognition network and function, particularly for the identification of fearful faces. The age dependency of some of these findings supports the view that a delayed maturation of spiking cortical regions might underlie the cognitive dysfunction observed in BCECTS.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
L'épilepsie affecte en France environ 500 000 personnes, parmi lesquelles environ un tiers présente une pharmaco-résistance. Pour ces patients, une chirurgie peut être envisagée, qui consiste en la ...résection de la région cérébrale à l'origine des crises, également appelée « zone épileptogène » (ZE). Le succès du traitement chirurgical repose à la fois sur la possibilité de bien circonscrire la zone nécessaire et suffisante à la survenue des crises, mais aussi sur l'identification du potentiel rôle fonctionnel du tissu cérébral situé dans ou à proximité de cette zone, afin d'éviter que l'intervention engendre des déficits cognitifs.Dans ce travail de thèse, nous nous sommes penchés sur des signaux électrophysiologiques entre 80 et 500 Hz, appelés oscillations haute fréquence (HFO), qui ont été récemment désignés comme pouvant être de nouveaux marqueurs de la ZE, et sur leurs analogues, les HFO physiologiques, qui semblent quant à eux être impliqués dans des processus cognitifs. Nous avons tenté d'identifier des paramètres permettant de distinguer ces deux classes de HFO. Alors que ces signaux sont à l'heure actuelle essentiellement enregistrés en EEG intracérébral (SEEG pour stéréo-électro-encéphalographie), nous avons également exploré la possibilité de les étudier en Imagerie par Résonnance Magnétique fonctionnelle simultanément à la SEEG, ce qui pourrait permettre à l'avenir d'en obtenir une cartographie sur l'ensemble du cerveau. La vocation générale de ces travaux est de participer à la compréhension et l'amélioration de l'étude des HFO pathologiques et physiologique, afin d'optimiser leur utilisation pour la chirurgie des épilepsies pharmaco-résistantes
Epilepsy affects 500 000 persons in France, among which about 30% will continue to have seizure despite medication. For those patients, a surgical treatment can be proposed, that consists in removing the brain region causing seizures, namely the “epileptogenic zone” (EZ). To achieve a good surgical outcome, it is necessary to identify the zone that is both necessary and sufficient for seizure start, but also, to identify the function of the brain tissue that is located close to this zone, to avoid eventual cognitive deficits.In this thesis, we were interested in the electrophysiological activities between 80 and 500 Hz called high frequency oscillations (HFO), that were recently identified as new markers of the EZ, and the analogous physiological HFO that seem to be implicated in cognitive processes. We tried to identify features that could enable to distinguish between this to class of HFO. While these activities are still mainly recorded with intra-cerebral electro-encephalography (icEEG), we also explored the possibility to study them with functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging, simultaneously with icEEG. This method could, in the future, enable to get a HFO mapping over the whole brain. The aim of this work is to participate in the comprehension and exploration improvement of pathological and physiological HFO, to enhance their use in intractable epilepsy surgery
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