title: Functional neuroimaging in epileptic encephalopathies.
abstract: Epileptic encephalopathies (EEs) represent a group of severe epileptic disorders associated with cognitive and behavioral disturbances. The mechanisms of cognitive disability in EEs remain unclear. This review summarized neuroimaging studies that have tried to describe specific fingerprints of brain activation in EE. Although the epileptic activity can be generated individually in different brain regions, it seems likely that the activity propagates in a syndrome-specific way. In some EEs, the epileptiform discharges were associated with an interruption of activity in the default mode network. In another EE, other mechanisms seem to underlie cognitive disability associated with epileptic activity, for example, abnormal connectivity pattern or interfering activity in the thalamocortical network. Further neuroimaging studies are needed to investigate the short-term and long-term impact of epileptic activity on cognition and development.
authors.affiliation: Clinic of Child and Adolescents Psychiatry, Goethe-University of Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany.
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Siniatchkin
authors.forename: Giuseppe
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Capovilla
mesh_terms: D001927:Brain Diseases / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004831:Epilepsies, Myoclonic / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000473:pathology* / Q000523:psychology; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008607:Intellectual Disability / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology; D065768:Lennox Gastaut Syndrome; D059906:Neuroimaging; D017286:Polysomnography; D012890:Sleep; D013036:Spasms, Infantile / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology
keywords: Epileptic encephalopathy; Lennox-Gastaut syndrome; Neuroimaging; West syndrome; fMRI