Abstract:
Background: Presentation of epileptic seizures throughout the day is a non-random phenomenon that is strongly dependent on neural
synchronization of locally and distantly interconnected cortical and/or subcortical networks. Here we aimed to identify the structural
correlates that underlie the propensity of seizures to occur during the night- and daytime.
Material and methods: We performed brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at a 3Tesla scanner in 13 patients (28 ± 9 years) with
nocturnal seizures, in 12 patients (26 ± 9 years) with diurnal seizures and in 10 healthy controls (28 ± 4 years) in order to compute the
cortical and subcortical volumes by using FreeSurfer processing stream.
Results: Patients with nocturnal seizures showed greater volumes of bilateral insula, superior temporal and orbitofrontal cortices compared to
those with diurnal seizures. When compared to healthy controls, patients with nocturnal seizures showed smaller volumes of left postcentral
and right middle temporal cortices. Patients with diurnal seizures in comparison to healthy controls displayed reduced cortical volumes
mainly in frontal, temporal and parietal lobe regions of the right hemisphere. Patients with nocturnal seizures showed larger volumes of
hippocampus (8208.6 ± 1006.1 mm3
) than patients with diurnal seizures (3859.1 ± 508.1 mm3
, p = 0.02) as well as larger volumes of amygdala
(1797.3 ± 323.2 mm3
vs 1500.5 ± 246.2 mm3
, p = 0.03).
Conclusions: Epileptic seizures in patients with nocturnal seizures and diurnal seizures are related to distinct neuromorphological correlates
that could be regarded as potential substrates favoring the generation of seizures during the night- or daytime.
Description:
Department of Neurology, Institute of Emergency Medicine, Nicolae Testemitsanu State University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Laboratory of Cerebrovascular Disease and Epilepsy, Institute of Emergency Medicine, Chisinau, the Republic of Moldova, The IVth Congress of Radiology and Medical Imaging of the Republic of Moldova with international participation, Chisinau, May 31 – June 2, 2018