title: Increasing structural atrophy and functional isolation of the temporal lobe with duration of disease in temporal lobe epilepsy.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Due to pharmacoresistant seizures and the underutilization of surgical treatments, a large number of temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients experience seizures for years or decades. The goal of this study was to generate a predictive model of duration of disease with the least number of parameters possible in order to identify and quantify the significant volumetric and functional indicators of TLE progression.
  
  
  METHODS
  Two cohorts of subjects including 12 left TLE, 21 right TLE and 20 healthy controls (duration = 0) were imaged on a 3T MRI scanner using high resolution T1-weighted structural MRI and 20 min of resting functional MRI scanning. Multivariate linear regression methods were used to compute a predictive model of duration of disease using 49 predictors including functional connectivity and gray matter volumes computed from these images.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No model developed from the full set of data accurately predicted the duration of disease across the entire range from 3 to 50 years. We then performed the regression on 35 subjects with durations of disease in the range 10 to 35 years. The resulting predictive model showed that longer durations were associated with reductions in functional connectivity from the ipsilateral temporal lobe to the contralateral temporal lobe, precuneus and mid cingulate, and with decreases in volume of the ipsilateral hippocampus and pallidum.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Functional and volumetric parameters accurately predicted duration of disease in TLE. The findings suggest that TLE is associated with a gradual functional isolation and significant progressive structural atrophy of the ipsilateral temporal lobe over years of duration in the range of 10-35 years. Furthermore, these changes can also be detected in the contralateral hemisphere in these patients, but to a lesser degree.
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA. Electronic address: victoria.morgan@vanderbilt.edu.
authors.forename: Victoria L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Morgan
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Benjamin N
authors.initials: BN
authors.lastname: Conrad
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Bassel
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Abou-Khalil
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University Institute of Imaging Science, Department of Radiology and Radiological Sciences, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Baxter P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.affiliation: Department of Biostatistics, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN, USA.
authors.forename: Hakmook
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kang
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001284:Atrophy; D001931:Brain Mapping; D015331:Cohort Studies; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D066128:Gray Matter / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008959:Models, Neurological; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D009929:Organ Size; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology* / Q000503:physiopathology*
keywords: Brain; Connectivity; Functional MRI; Regression; Temporal lobe epilepsy