Epilepsy-related white matter network changes in patients with frontal lobe glioma - 07/04/22

Doi : 10.1016/j.neurad.2022.03.007

Chunyao Zhou ^a, Shengyu Fang ^a,^b, Jianing Yang ^a, Yinyan Wang ^a,^b,^⁎ , Lei Wang ^a,^b,^⁎
^a Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
^b Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 119 West South Fourth Ring Road, Beijing 100070, China

^⁎Corresponding author at: Department of Neurosurgery, Beijing Tiantan Hospital and Beijing Neurosurgical Institute, Capital Medical University, No. 119 West South Fourth Ring Road, Beijing 100070, China.Department of NeurosurgeryBeijing Tiantan Hospital, Capital Medical UniversityNo. 119 West South Fourth Ring RoadBeijing100070China

En prensa. Pruebas corregidas por el autor. Disponible en línea desde el Thursday 07 April 2022
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Highlights

•	This study aimed to identify alterations in white matter networks caused by glioma and glioma-related epilepsy.
•	In this study, 61 patients with frontal lobe gliomas were enrolled and classified into the epileptic and non-epileptic groups. Additionally, 14 healthy participants were enrolled after matching for age, sex, and education level. All participants underwent diffusion tensor imaging, and graph theoretical analysis was applied to reveal the topological properties of white matter networks.
•	The epileptic groups showed relatively intact WM networks, while the non-epileptics groups had damaged network with lower efficiency and higher path length. These findings provide new insights into the mechanisms underlying glioma-related epilepsy.

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Abstract

Purpose

Epilepsy is a common symptom in patients with frontal lobe glioma. Tumor-related epilepsy was recently considered a type of network disease. Glioma can severely influence the integrity of the white matter network. The association between white matter network changes and presurgical epilepsy remains unclear in glioma patients. This study aims to identify alterations to the subcortical brain networks caused by glioma and glioma-related epilepsy.

Methods

Sixty-one patients with frontal lobe gliomas were enrolled and stratified into the epileptic and non-epileptic groups. Additionally, 14 healthy participants were enrolled after matching for age, sex, and education level. All participants underwent diffusion tensor imaging. Graph theoretical analysis was applied to reveal topological changes in their white matter networks. Regions affected by tumors were excluded from the analysis.

Results

Global efficiency was significantly decreased (p = 0.008), while the shortest path length increased (p = 0.02) in the left and right non-epileptic groups compared to the controls. A total of five edges exhibited decreased fiber count in the non-epileptic group (p < 0.05, false discovery rate-corrected). The topological properties and connectional edges showed no significant differences when comparing the epileptic groups and the controls. Additionally, the degree centrality of several nodes connected to the alternated edges was also diminished.

Conclusions

Compared to the controls, the epilepsy groups showed raletively intact WM networks, while the non-epileptsy groups had damaged network with lower efficiency and longer path length. These findings indicated that the occurrence of glioma related epilepsy have association with white matter network intergrity.

El texto completo de este artículo está disponible en PDF.