Recent advances in sMRI and artificial intelligence for presurgical planning in focal cortical dysplasia: A systematic review.

BACKGROUND

Focal Cortical Dysplasia (FCD) is a leading cause of drug-resistant epilepsy, particularly in children and young adults, necessitating precise presurgical planning. Traditional structural MRI often fails to detect subtle FCD lesions, especially in MRI-negative cases. Recent advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI), particularly Machine Learning (ML) and Deep Learning (DL), have the potential to enhance FCD detection's sensitivity and specificity.

METHODS

This systematic review, following PRISMA guidelines, searched PubMed, Embase, Scopus, Web of Science, and Science Direct for articles published from 2020 onwards, using keywords related to "Focal Cortical Dysplasia," "MRI," and "Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning/Deep Learning." Included were original studies employing AI and structural MRI (sMRI) for FCD detection in humans, reporting quantitative performance metrics, and published in English. Data extraction was performed independently by two reviewers, with discrepancies resolved by a third.

RESULTS

The included studies demonstrated that AI significantly improved FCD detection, achieving sensitivity up to 97.1 % and specificities up to 84.3 % across various MRI sequences, including MPRAGE, MP2RAGE, and FLAIR. AI models, particularly deep learning models, matched or surpassed human radiologist performance, with combined AI-human expertise reaching up to 87 % detection rates. Among 88 full-text articles reviewed, 27 met inclusion criteria. The studies emphasized the importance of advanced MRI sequences and multimodal MRI for enhanced detection, though model performance varied with FCD type and training datasets.

CONCLUSION

Recent advances in sMRI and AI, especially deep learning, offer substantial potential to improve FCD detection, leading to better presurgical planning and patient outcomes in drug-resistant epilepsy. These methods enable faster, more accurate, and automated FCD detection, potentially enhancing surgical decision-making. Further clinical validation and optimization of AI algorithms across diverse datasets are essential for broader clinical translation.