title: Investigation of magnetic resonance imaging texture analysis as an aid tool for characterization of refractory epilepsies.
abstract: Refractory epilepsies are syndromes for which therapies that employ two or more antiepileptic drugs, separately or in association, do not result in control of crisis. Patients may present focal cortical dysplasia or diffuse dysplasia and/or hippocampal atrophic alterations that may not be detectable by a simple visual analysis in magnetic resonance imaging. The aim of this study was to evaluate MRI texture in regions of interest located in the hippocampi, limbic association cortex and prefrontal cortex of 20 patients with refractory epilepsy and to compare them with the same areas in 20 healthy individuals, in order to find out if the texture parameters could be related to the presence of the disease. Of the 11 texture parameters calculated, three indicated the existence of statistically significant differences between the studied groups. Such findings suggest the possibility of this technique contributing to studies of refractory epilepsies.
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Neurologia, Faculdade de Ciências Médicas, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil, CampinasSP.
authors.forename: Maurício Martins
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Baldissin
authors.affiliation: Departamento de Engenharia Biomédica, Faculdade de Engenharia Elétrica e Computação, Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Brazil, CampinasSP.
authors.forename: Edna Marina de
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Souza
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001284:Atrophy / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D054220:Malformations of Cortical Development / Q000473:pathology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult