Spatial Coherence Profiles of Ictal High-Frequency Oscillations Correspond to Those of Interictal Low-Frequency Oscillations in the ECoG of Epileptic Patients.

Abstract

We have previously demonstrated that the coherence of high-frequency oscillations (HFOs; 80-300Hz) increased during extratemporal lobe seizures in a consistent and spatially focused electrode cluster. In this study, we have investigated the relationship between cohered HFO intracranial EEG (iEEG) activity with that of slower low-frequency oscillations (LFOs; <80Hz). We applied wavelet phase coherence analysis to the iEEGs of patients with intractable extratemporal lobe epilepsy (ETLE). It was observed that areas on the implanted patient subdural grids, which exhibited strong ictal HFO coherence were similar to tissue regions displaying strong interictal LFO coherence in the 5-12Hz frequency range, relative to all other electrodes. A positive surgical outcome was correlated with having the clinically marked seizure onset zone(s) in close proximity to HFO/LFO coherence highlighted regions of interest (ROIs). Recent studies have suggested that LFOs (in the 8-12Hz frequency range) play an important role in controlling cortical excitability, by exerting an inhibitory effect on cortical processing, and that the presence of strong theta activity (4-8Hz) in awake adults is suggestive of abnormal and/or pathological activity. We speculate that the overlapping spatial regions exhibiting increased coherence in both ictal HFOs and interictal LFOs identified local abnormalities that underlie epileptogenic networks. Whereas it is worthwhile to note that the small patient group ( n = 7) studied here, somewhat limits the clinical significance of our study, the results presented here suggest targeting HFO activity in the 80-300Hz frequency range and/or interictal LFO activity in the 5-12Hz frequency range, when defining seizure-related ROIs in the iEEGs of patients with ETLE.