Department of Neurology, Oslo University Hospital, Oslo, Norway.
Center for Biomedical Technology, Technical University of Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain; Department of Experimental Psychology, Complutense University of Madrid, Pozuelo de Alarcón, Spain; Networking Research Center on Bioengineering, Biomaterials and Nanomedicine (CIBER-BBN), Madrid, Spain.
Clin Neurophysiol. 2021 Jul;132(7):1663-1676. doi: 10.1016/j.clinph.2021.04.008. Epub 2021 Apr 30.
The hypersynchronous neuronal activity associated with epilepsy causes widespread functional network disruptions extending beyond the epileptogenic zone. This altered network topology is considered a mediator for non-seizure symptoms, such as cognitive impairment. The aim of this study was to investigate functional network alterations in focal epilepsy patients with good seizure control and high quality of life.
We compared twenty-two focal epilepsy patients and sixteen healthy controls on graph metrics derived from functional connectivity of source-level resting-state EEG. Graph metrics were calculated over a range of network densities in five frequency bands.
We observed a significantly increased small world index in patients relative to controls. On the local level, two left-hemisphere regions displayed a shift towards greater alpha band "hubness". The findings were not mediated by age, sex or education, nor by age of epilepsy onset, duration or focus lateralisation.
Widespread functional network alterations are evident in focal epilepsy, even in a cohort characterised by successful anti-seizure medication therapy and high quality of life. These findings might support the position that functional network analysis could hold clinical relevance for epilepsy.
Focal epilepsy is accompanied by global and local functional network aberrancies which might be implied in the sustenance of non-seizure symptoms.
与癫痫相关的过度同步神经元活动导致广泛的功能网络破坏，超出了致痫区。这种改变的网络拓扑结构被认为是癫痫发作以外症状（如认知障碍）的中介。本研究旨在探讨癫痫发作控制良好且生活质量高的局灶性癫痫患者的功能网络改变。
我们比较了 22 名局灶性癫痫患者和 16 名健康对照者，比较了来源于静息状态源水平脑电图功能连接的图论指标。在五个频带范围内，针对不同的网络密度计算了图论指标。
与对照组相比，患者的小世界指数显著增加。在局部水平上，两个左侧半球区域的阿尔法波段“枢纽”作用明显增强。这些发现不受年龄、性别、教育程度、癫痫发作年龄、持续时间或病灶侧化的影响。
即使在抗癫痫药物治疗成功且生活质量高的患者中，局灶性癫痫也存在广泛的功能网络改变。这些发现可能支持功能网络分析对癫痫具有临床意义的观点。
局灶性癫痫伴有全局和局部功能网络异常，这可能与非癫痫发作症状的持续存在有关。
