Abstract
Background and purpose: Recurrent seizures have been reported to induce neuronal loss in the hippocampus. It is unclear whether seizure control influences hippocampal volume. The aims of this study were to determine if there was a change in total or subfield hippocampal volume over time in children with focal drug-resistant epilepsy, and whether seizure control influenced total or subfield hippocampal volumes. Methods: Using FreeSurfer’s automated segmentation of brain magnetic resonance imaging scans, we calculated the total and subfield (including CA1, CA3, CA4, subiculum, presubiculum, parasubiculum, molecular layer and dentate gyrus) hippocampal volumes of children with non-lesional focal epilepsy. Seizure frequency and hippocampal volumes were assessed at baseline and follow-up. Patients were classified into those who were seizure free or have improvement in seizures (group 1) and those with no improvement in seizures (group 2) at follow-up. Results: Thirty-seven patients were included, with mean age 10.31 ± 3.68 years at baseline. The interval between the two magnetic resonance imaging scans was 2.59 ± 1.25 years. There was no significant difference in the total and subfield hippocampal volumes for the whole cohort at follow-up compared to baseline (all P > 0.002). Seizure control of the two groups did not predict total or subfield hippocampal volume, after controlling for baseline volume, age, severity of seizure frequency at baseline and time interval between the magnetic resonance imaging scans (all P > 0.002). Conclusion: We have found that total and subfield hippocampal volumes did not change, and seizure control did not predict hippocampal volumes at follow-up in children with drug-resistant epilepsy.
| Original language | English (US) |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 454-460 |
| Number of pages | 7 |
| Journal | Neuroradiology Journal |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue number | 4 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Aug 2022 |
Funding
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article: This research was supported by Sickkids Foundation/CIHR Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health, and EpLink \u2013 the Epilepsy Research Program of the Ontario Brain Institute. The Ontario Brain Institute is an independent non-profit corporation, funded partially by the Ontario government. The opinions, results and conclusions are those of the authors and no endorsement by the Ontario Brain Institute is intended or should be inferred.
Keywords
- Children with epilepsy
- drug-resistant epilepsy
- hippocampal subfields
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Radiology Nuclear Medicine and imaging
- Clinical Neurology