Laufs Helmut, Duncan John S
Department of Clinical and Experimental Epilepsy, Institute of Neurology, University College London, London, UK.
Curr Opin Neurol. 2007 Aug;20(4):417-23. doi: 10.1097/WCO.0b013e3282202b92.
Simultaneous recording of electroencephalogram and functional MRI is being increasingly applied to the investigation of normal cerebral processes and disorders, particularly epilepsies. We will summarize recent epilepsy-related studies and appraise the clinical and scientific value of EEG/fMRI.
Interictal and ictal EEG/fMRI can provide helpful information in the presurgical evaluation of epilepsy. At present, EEG/fMRI cannot supercede any of the current methods because validation studies are lacking, informative results are only obtained in some patients, and haemodynamic activation and deactivation patterns are not always of localizing value. EEG/fMRI data often identify distributed brain areas and can help to generate concepts of epileptogenic networks both in individual patients and groups with particular epilepsy syndromes.
Clinically, EEG/fMRI studies may influence further investigations such as more detailed structural imaging or the planning of intracranial electrophysiological studies by generating hypotheses about the location of epileptic foci. Validation studies are underway to determine whether such clinical applications are appropriate. EEG/fMRI can also assess epileptogenic networks and changes in brain state, leading to a new dimension of understanding of dynamic cerebral processes in health and disease.
脑电图（EEG）与功能磁共振成像（fMRI）同步记录正越来越多地应用于正常脑功能及疾病，尤其是癫痫的研究。我们将总结近期与癫痫相关的研究，并评估EEG/fMRI的临床及科学价值。
发作间期和发作期EEG/fMRI可为癫痫的术前评估提供有用信息。目前，EEG/fMRI尚不能取代现有任何一种方法，因为缺乏验证研究，仅部分患者能获得有价值的结果，且血流动力学激活和失活模式并不总是具有定位价值。EEG/fMRI数据常可识别出广泛的脑区，有助于在个体患者及特定癫痫综合征群体中形成致痫网络的概念。
在临床上，EEG/fMRI研究可通过对癫痫病灶位置提出假设，影响进一步的检查，如更详细的结构成像或颅内电生理研究的规划。验证研究正在进行，以确定此类临床应用是否合适。EEG/fMRI还可评估致痫网络及脑状态变化，为理解健康和疾病状态下动态脑过程开辟了新的维度。
