The relationship between neuromagnetic activity and cognitive function in benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes

Abstract

Our aim was to explore the pathophysiological mechanism of cognitive function changes in early untreated children with benign childhood epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS). Methods: Magnetoencephalography (MEG) was performed in 33 children with BECTS and 18 healthy children. Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children, fourth edition (WISC-IV) was used to divide children with BECTS into two groups. Normal cognitive function was defined as a full-scale intelligence quotient (FSIQ) of N 80, while decreased cognitive function was defined as a FSIQ of b 80. Accumulated source imaging was used to evaluate the neuromagnetic source activity in multifrequency bands. Results: Of the 33 patients with early untreated BECTS, a total of 17 had a FSIQ of b 80 and 16 had FSIQ of N 80. The course of epilepsy and number of seizures in the FSIQ b80 group were higher than that in the FSIQ N 80 group. Our MEG results showed that in the 4-8 Hz frequency band, both patient groups had inactivation of the posterior cingulate cortex (PCC) region compared with the healthy control group. In the 30-80 Hz frequency band, the FSIQ b 80 group showed inactivation of the PCC region compared with both the healthy control group and the FSIQ N 80 group. In the 80-250 Hz frequency band, the FSIQ b80 group had inactivated of the medial frontal cortex (MFC) region compared with the healthy control group. In the 30-80 Hz frequency band, the strength of neuromagnetic source in patients with BECTS with FSIQ b80 was higher than that in the FSIQ N 80 group and the healthy control group. Conclusions: The magnetic source inactivation of the MFC and PCC regions during the interictal time may be the reason for cognitive decline in early untreated children with BECTS. Children with BECTS with cognitive decline had a longer course of epilepsy and more seizures. The magnetic source localization in the 4-8 Hz frequency band may be a new imaging marker for the diagnosis of new BECTS.

Relationship between brain activity, cognitive function, and sleep spiking activation in new-onset self-limited epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes

“…In addition, we did not find a significant correlation between the age at onset and duration of illness. We do not believe that there is a simple linear relationship between magnetic source intensity, age at onset, number of episodes, and duration of illness, which we plan to reconfirm in a larger sample ( 45 ).…”

Impact of Antiepileptic Drugs on Cognition and Neuromagnetic Activity in Childhood Epilepsy With Centrotemporal Spikes: A Magnetoencephalography Study

“…The verbal comprehension index (VCI) represents language and verbal skills, the perceptual reasoning index (PRI) reflects nonverbal and fluid reasoning, the working memory index (WMI) reflects working memory and auditory attention, and the processing speed index (PSI) reflects selective attention and speed of visual information processing. We previously reported that, prior to treatment, children with CECTS showed significantly poorer performance compared to health controls in all aspects (Li et al, 2020a). The WISC-IV was utilized in the present study to determine whether treatment with AEDs would cause a change in cognitive function.…”

Altered Neuromagnetic Activity in Persistent Postural-Perceptual Dizziness: A Multifrequency Magnetoencephalography Study

“…Since each node-beam lead field indicated a form of either source-beamformer or subspace solution, the ASI had multiple source beamformers to separate correlated sources. Several previous studies have verified the reliability of this method (Xiang et al, 2014(Xiang et al, , 2015aLiu et al, 2015;Tang et al, 2016;Li et al, 2020c;.…”