Structural Connectivity Alterations in Operculo-Insular Epilepsy

Brain Sciences

Michel W. Bojanowski¹  Alain Bouthillier¹  Jimmy Ghaziri²  Dang K. Nguyen³  Sami Obaid³  Alessandro Daducci⁴  Manon Edde⁵  Etienne St-Onge⁵  Jasmeen Sidhu⁵  Maxime Descoteaux⁵  Guido I. Guberman⁵  François Rheault⁵ 

[1] Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM), Division of Neurosurgery, Montreal, QC H2X 3E4, Canada;Centre de Recherche du CHUM (CRCHUM), Montreal, QC H2X 0A9, Canada;Departement of Neurosciences, Université de Montréal, Montreal, QC H3C 3J7, Canada;Department of Computer Science, University of Verona, 37134 Verona, Italy;Sherbrooke Connectivity Imaging Lab (SCIL), Sherbrooke University, Sherbrooke, QC J1K 0A5, Canada;

关键词: epilepsy;    insula;    operculum;    connectome;    diffusion magnetic resonance imaging;    tractography;   

DOI  :  10.3390/brainsci11081041

来源: DOAJ

【 摘 要 】

Operculo-insular epilepsy (OIE) is an under-recognized condition that can mimic temporal and extratemporal epilepsies. Previous studies have revealed structural connectivity changes in the epileptic network of focal epilepsy. However, most reports use the debated streamline-count to quantify ‘connectivity strength’ and rely on standard tracking algorithms. We propose a sophisticated cutting-edge method that is robust to crossing fibers, optimizes cortical coverage, and assigns an accurate microstructure-reflecting quantitative conectivity marker, namely the COMMIT (Convex Optimization Modeling for Microstructure Informed Tractography)-weight. Using our pipeline, we report the connectivity alterations in OIE. COMMIT-weighted matrices were created in all participants (nine patients with OIE, eight patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), and 22 healthy controls (HC)). In the OIE group, widespread increases in ‘connectivity strength’ were observed bilaterally. In OIE patients, ‘hyperconnections’ were observed between the insula and the pregenual cingulate gyrus (OIE group vs. HC group) and between insular subregions (OIE vs. TLE). Graph theoretic analyses revealed higher connectivity within insular subregions of OIE patients (OIE vs. TLE). We reveal, for the first time, the structural connectivity distribution in OIE. The observed pattern of connectivity in OIE likely reflects a diffuse epileptic network incorporating insular-connected regions and may represent a structural signature and diagnostic biomarker.

【 授权许可】

Unknown