Abstracts

It is known that JME subjects have deficits in working memory (Swartz BE, et al. J Epilepsy 1994b; 7(3): 232). Neuroimaging studies have confirmed a lack of prefrontal activity during a working memory task (Swartz BE, et al. Neurology 1996b; 47(5): 1203), increased grey matter with decreased NAA in the medial frontal region (Woehrmann FG, et al. Brain 1999: 2101; Savic I , et al. Epilepsia 1998; 39(4): 364), increased myoinositol in the prefrontal cortex (Swartz BE, et al. Neurology 52, April, 1999 (Suppl 2): A547), and abnormal texture of the thalamus in JME (Betting, LE, et al. Neurology 64(S1):A152; 2005). Volumetric studies have not been reported and the stability of any of the above changes is unknown. Therefore, we are conducting a longitudinal study of brain volumes and function in JME and FLE compared to a matched control group. This abstract represents analysis of some of the first year data. Subjects with Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy (JME), as confirmed by the findings of myoclonic jerks, generalized tonic clonic seizures, and generalized fast polyspike wave complexes on EEG, were recruited from the clinics of the senior author (B.E.S). Five are taking Valproate, 3-Levetiracetam, 2-Zonisamide, 2-Clonazepam, 2-Lamotrigine. Controls were recruited from students and employees of U.C. Irvine. MRI was performed on a 1.5 T Phillips Scanner as a volumetric series, T1 weighted (TR/TE = 20/4.47 msec), 20[ordm] flip angle, 1.5 mm slice, voxel size1x1x1.5mm, FOV 25.6 cm. MRI[apos]s were converted from DICOM to 3D Analyze format in MRIcro, and regions of interest (ROI) were drawn with ROITool (UCI program;Yong Chu author) in MatLab. ROItool also calculates the volumes, expressed as cm3. To date, the cingulate and TBV has been measured in eight subjects with JME (4 female, 4 male) and 6 controls (5M, 1F). The average age of the JME subjects is 33 +/- 2 yrs and the controls are 38 +/- 13 years. The relative cingulate volumes (rCingVol) are expressed as the volume divided by the whole brain volume x 100, as shown below (Table1). None of the differences are significant (unpaired t test). No obvious differences in total or lateralized cingulate volumes of JME vs. control subjects were found in this small study. We will be adding additional subjects and also calculating the volume of the thalamus for the presentation.[table1] (Supported by Veteran[apos]s Administration Research Service.)