title: Diffusion tensor imaging of partial intractable epilepsy.
abstract: Our aim was to assess the value of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in patients with partial intractable epilepsy. We used DTI (25 non-collinear directions) in 15 patients with a cortical lesion on conventional MRI. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was measured in the internal capsule, and in the normal-appearing white matter (WM), adjacent to the lesion, and away from the lesion, at a set distance of 2-3 cm. In each patient, increased or decreased FA measurements were those that varied from mirror values using an arbitrary 10% threshold. Over the whole population, ipsi- and contralateral FA measurements were also compared using a Wilcoxon test (p<0.05). Over the whole population, FA was significantly reduced in the WM adjacent to and away from the lesion, whilst being normal in the internal capsule. FA was reduced by more than 10% in the WM adjacent to and distant from the lesion in 13 and 12 patients respectively. For nine of the ten patients for whom the surgical resection encompassed the limits of the lesion on conventional MRI, histological data showed WM alterations (gliosis, axonal loss, abnormal cells). DTI often reveals WM abnormalities that are undetected on conventional MRI in patients with partial intractable epilepsy.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neuroradiology, Sainte-Anne Hospital, 1 rue Cabanis, 75674, Paris cedex 14, France.
authors.forename: Anne
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Dumas de la Roque
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Oppenheim
authors.forename: Francine
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Chassoux
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Rodrigo
authors.forename: Frédéric
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Beuvon
authors.forename: Catherine
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Daumas-Duport
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Devaux
authors.forename: Jean-François
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Meder
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D016880:Anisotropy; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology*; D038524:Diffusion Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric