Network characteristics in benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes patients indicating defective connectivity during spindle sleep: a partial directed coherence study of EEG signals

Publication date: Available online 21 September 2018

Source: Clinical Neurophysiology

Author(s): Giulia Varotto, Silvana Franceschetti, Davide Caputo, Elisa Visani, Laura Canafoglia, Elena Freri, Francesca Ragona, Giuliano Avanzini, Ferruccio Panzica

Abstract

Objective

to investigate the changes in EEG connectivity in children with the typical presentation of benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes (BECTS).

Methods

We compared awake and spindle-sleep EEG recordings obtained by a standard electrode array in patients with lateralised (10 Right, 9 Left-BECTS) or bilateral spikes (10 MF-BECTS) and in 17 age-matched controls. We analysed EEG activity using partial directed coherence, an estimator of connectivity based on the multivariate autoregressive models and calculated in- and out-degrees, strength, clustering coefficient and betweenness centrality.

Results

In comparison with the controls, the awake EEG recordings of the patients with lateralised BECTS showed a minimal increase in out-degrees on F4 and F3. The greater differences, found during sleep, included significant reductions in both in- and out-degrees and strength in all of the patient groups, but in T4 or T3 showing increased out-degrees and strength in Right and Left-BECTS. Betweenness centrality was significantly reduced on C3 and C4 in the patients with MF-BECTS.

Conclusions

Our observations suggest that the main finding in BECTS patients is widely reduced local connectivity.

Significance

The network changes in BECTS can be interpreted as a permissive condition occurring in a developmental window that predisposes to seizure generation during spindle-sleep.

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