Thought disorder and frontotemporal volumes in pediatric epilepsy.
The aim of this study was to determine if volumes of frontotemporal regions associated with language were related to thought disorder in 42 children, aged 5-16 years, with cryptogenic epilepsy, all of whom had complex partial seizures (CPS). The children with CPS and 41 age- and gender-matched healthy children underwent brain MRI scans at 1.5 T. Tissue was segmented, and total brain, frontal lobe, and temporal lobe volumes were computed. Thought disorder measures, IQ, and seizure information were collected for each patient. The subjects with CPS had more thought disorder, smaller total gray matter and orbital frontal gray matter volumes, as well as larger temporal lobe white matter volumes than the control group. In the CPS group, thought disorder was significantly related to smaller orbital frontal and inferior frontal gray matter volumes, increased Heschl's gyrus gray matter volumes, and smaller superior temporal gyrus white matter volumes. However, significantly larger orbital frontal gyrus, superior temporal gyrus, and temporal lobe gray matter volumes and decreased Heschl's gyrus white matter volumes were associated with thought disorder in the control group. These findings suggest that thought disorder might represent a developmental disability involving frontotemporal regions associated with language in pediatric CPS.
Caplan
Rochelle
R
Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior, David Geffen School of Medicine, University of California at Los Angeles, Los Angeles, CA, USA. rcaplan@ucla.edu
Levitt
Jennifer
J
Siddarth
Prabha
P
Taylor
Janelle
J
Daley
Melita
M
Wu
Keng Nei
KN
Gurbani
Suresh
S
Shields
W Donald
WD
Sankar
Raman
R
D000293:Adolescent; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001931:Brain Mapping; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*