Authors :
Presenting Author: Gerard Hall, PhD – Newcastle University, UK
Frances Hutchings, PhD – Newcastle University; Jonathan Horsley, Msc – Newcastle University; Callum Simpson, Msc – Newcastle University; Yujiang Wang, PhD – Newcastle University; Jane de Tisi, PhD – UCL; Anna Miserocchi, PhD – UCLH; Andrew McEvoy, MD, FRCS SN – UCLH; Sjoerd Vos, PhD – The University of Western Australia; Gavin Winston, MD – Queen’s University, Kingston, Canada; John Duncan, MD – UCL; Peter Taylor, PhD – Newcastle University
Rationale:
Extra temporal lobe epilepsy (eTLE) may involve heterogenous widespread cerebral networks. We investigated the structural network of an eTLE cohort, at the postulated epileptogenic zone later surgically removed, as a network node; the resection zone (RZ). We hypothesized patients with an abnormal connection to/from the RZ, to have proportionally increased abnormalities based on topological proximity to the RZ, in addition to poorer post-operative seizure outcome.
Methods:
Structural and diffusion MRI were collected for 22 eTLE patients pre- and post-surgery, and for 29 healthy controls. The structural connectivity of the RZ prior to surgery, measured via generalised fractional anisotropy (gFA), was compared to healthy controls. Abnormal connections were identified as those with substantially reduced gFA (z< -1.96).