Altered regional homogeneity in epileptic children with infantile spasm: A resting-state fMRI study

Abstract

Objective To investigate the possible pathogenesis of infantile spasm (IS) by analyzing the changes of resting-state fMRI (rs-fMRI) regional homogeneity (ReHo) in preoperative IS patients. Methods From January 2014 to December 2015, a total of 11 patients of intractable IS were admitted to Neurosurgery Department of Shenzhen Children Hospital for presurgical evaluation. Besides the patients, 35 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects were enrolled into this retrospective study. In order to identify the pattern of regional synchronization in IS patients, all the children in this study received rs-fMRI scan and were analyzed by the software DPARSFV1.0. Results Compared with healthy subjects, in the IS group, decreased ReHo were shown in bilateral precunei, bilateral middle occipital gyri, right middle temporal gyrus, right inferior parietal lobule, right cryptocalcarine gyrus, left central posterior gyrus, left precentral gyrus and left angular gyrus while increased ReHo were demonstrated in the right anterior cingulate gyrus, bilateral brain stems, bilateral hippocampi, bilateral thalami, right caudate nucleus, left cerebellum, left pars opercularis, bilateral insula lobes, right accessory motor area and right olfactory region(both P<0.05). Correlation analysis showed that lower ReHo values of the right precuneus (r value: -0.973) and left superior parietal lobule (r value: -0.978) were associated with longer duration of epilepsy (both P<0.01). Conclusion Our results suggest that IS may cause significant damage to children's brain areas related to motion, execution and cognition. Key words: Epilepsy; Infantile spasm; Child; Intractable; Regional homogeneity