Abstracts

Children with chronic epilepsy have been reported to exhibit significant reductions in cerebral and cerebellar volumes. Whether these abnormalities are present at epilepsy onset or develop over time remains to be determined. The purpose of this investigation was to examine volumes of segmented gray and white matter and CSF in children with new onset epilepsy versus healthy controls. 22 children with recent onset epilepsy (diagnosed within 12 months, mean = 10.3 months) and 16 healthy controls underwent high resolution MR imaging with quantitatve volumetric processing using BRAINS-2 software. Examined were segmented volumes of total as well as lobar gray and white matter and CSF. Data were analyzed by multivariate analysis of covariance with ICV as the covariate. There were no significant differences between children with new onset epilepsy versus healthy controls in terms of age (13.4 vs. 12.7 yrs), Full Scale IQ (107.7 vs. 107.2), height, weight, head circumference, or gender. Twelve children had localization-related and 10 had generalized epilepsy syndromes. There were no significant differences (all p[apos]s [gt] .20) between the new onset epilepsy cases and healthy controls across volumetric measures of total gray, white or CSF, nor across measures of total regional brain volumes including frontal, temporal parietal, or occipital lobes, nor of segmented tissue volumes within lobes. Abnormalities in quantitative volumetric measurements of whole brain and lobar gray and white matter or CSF were not evident in children with recently diagnosed uncomplicated [quot]epilepsy only[quot] compared to healthy controls. As our subject pool increases, comparisons will be made between children with syndromes of localization-related versus primary generalized epilepsy. (Supported by NIH RO1NS44351.)