Analysis of the structural integrity of temporal structures and the thalamus using T2 magnetic resonance relaxometry in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

• Grant number: 23/02025-2
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: May 01, 2023
• End date: April 30, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Medical Clinics
• Principal Investigator: Fernando Cendes
• Grantee: Carlos Dibbern
• 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

The epilepsies are chronic disorders defined by the recurrency of abnormal hyperactivation of a certain population of brain neurons, event that characterizes the seizures. The juvenile myoclonic epilepsy is a type of epileptic disorder in which the whole brain is affected during the seizure, marked by muscle jerks and tonic-clonic crisis. It is known that some brain structures are related to juvenile myoclonic epilepsy, such as the thalamus; however, temporal structures (such as the temporal lobe anterior pole, the amygdala and the hippocampus) may also contribute to this epileptic disorder. This project aims to analyze the structural integrity of these four structures in patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy to search for relations between the structures and this epilepsy. This will be made through quantification of T2 signal in these structures upon a relaxometry map obtained by T2-multiecho magnetic resonance, considering that alterations in this signal have been found in certain structures in other types of epilepsy (such as the hippocampus hypersignal in temporal lobe epilepsy). The quantification will be made in both control subjects and patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy through the software Relaxo LNI, and the statistical analysis will be performed by Chi-squared test or Fisher's exact test depending on the distribution of the sample. The result can also suggest the T2 signal as a biomarker for structural and functional state evaluation of these structures, helping the identification of abnormalities that can not be seen in conventional magnetic resonance imaging.