[SP3-3A-3] Structural Network Analysis with a Graph Theoretical analysis in Children with Localization-related Epilepsy
[Introduction] Epilepsy has been considered as a disorder of neural networks. Recent advances in neuroimaging and its analysis have made possible to investigate both functional and structural connectivity in the brain. The aim of this study is to elucidate alteration in structural connectivity in children with localization-related epilepsy using a mathematical method of graph theoretical analysis. [Methodology] Fifteen children with localization-related epilepsy (8 women, 8.5±3.5 years) as an epilepsy group and twenty-three children without a past history of seizure (12 women, 8.9±3.7 years) as a control group underwent three-dimensional T1-weighted brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Gray matter images segmented and spatially normalized from MRI of both groups were analyzed using statistical parametric mapping with Graph Analysis Toolbox (GAT). [Results] The global efficiency and global modularity tended to increase (p=0.081) and significantly increased (p=0.017) respectively in the epilepsy as compared to the control group. The epilepsy group showed locally decreased betweenness centrality in the left cingulate gyrus and bilateral precentral gyrus and locally increased clustering in the bilateral cingulate gyrus and medial frontal lobes. The epilepsy group showed higher network resilience to random attack and targeted attack than the control group. [Conclusions] We found excessively increased structural connectivity in patients with localization- related epilepsy along with excessive network robustness, but on the other hand it decreased in the cingulate gyrus and precentral gyrus. This status may be related to constitutional alteration underlying epileptogenecity.