Relation between interictal epileptiform activity and dynamic functional connectivity in patients with Epilepsy

• Grant number: 21/06289-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2021
• End date: November 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Radiology
• Principal Investigator: Brunno Machado de Campos
• Grantee: Giovana Gouvêa
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated research grant: 13/07559-3 - BRAINN - The Brazilian Institute of Neuroscience and Neurotechnology, AP.CEPID

Abstract

Epilepsy is a debilitating condition due to a predisposition to recurrent and spontaneous epileptic seizures and it is one of the most common neurological diseases in adults and children. Patients with focal epilepsies who do not respond to the drug treatment may benefit from another type of intervention: surgical resection of the epileptogenic zone (region of the cerebral cortex by the generation of responsible seizures). However, the success of this procedure depends directly on the ability/possibility to precisely define the epileptogenic zone. Among patients undergoing surgery, 30 to 40% still have seizures after the procedure. Thus, there is an urgent need to develop methods and techniques capable of safely and accurately defining the epileptogenic zone in an individualized way ("precision medicine"), enabling better surgical planning and superior results of seizure control. With the aid of the functional connectivity technique applied to combined data from functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and electroencephalogram (EEG), we propose the evaluation of data in patients with focal epilepsy. The relationship between the frequency of epileptiform activity and the dynamic connectivity of the DMN (Default Mode Network) will be studied. This study may contribute to the understanding of the epileptogenic network, highlighting regions with patterns of functional activity out of the expected and more affected by interictal activities. (AU)