title: Intrinsic brain activity as a diagnostic biomarker in children with benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes.
abstract: Benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is often associated with neural circuit dysfunction, particularly during the transient active state characterized by interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs). Little is known, however, about the functional neural circuit abnormalities in BECTS without IEDs, or if such abnormalities could be used to differentiate BECTS patients without IEDs from healthy controls (HCs) for early diagnosis. To this end, we conducted resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (RS-fMRI) and simultaneous Electroencephalogram (EEG) in children with BECTS (n = 43) and age-matched HC (n = 28). The simultaneous EEG recordings distinguished BECTS with IEDs (n = 20) from without IEDs (n = 23). Intrinsic brain activity was measured in all three groups using the amplitude of low frequency fluctuation at rest. Compared to HC, BECTS patients with IEDs exhibited an intrinsic activity abnormality in the thalamus, suggesting that thalamic dysfunction could contribute to IED emergence while patients without IEDs exhibited intrinsic activity abnormalities in middle frontal gyrus and superior parietal gyrus. Using multivariate pattern classification analysis, we were able to differentiate BECTS without IEDs from HCs with 88.23% accuracy. BECTS without epileptic transients can be distinguished from HC and BECTS with IEDs by unique regional abnormalities in resting brain activity. Both transient abnormalities as reflected by IEDs and chronic abnormalities as reflected by RS-fMRI may contribute to BECTS development and expression. Intrinsic brain activity and multivariate pattern classification techniques are promising tools to diagnose and differentiate BECTS syndromes. Hum Brain Mapp 36:3878-3889, 2015. © 2015 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Education and Counseling Center, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.|School of Public Health, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Yihong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Mental Health Education and Counseling Center, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.|School of Public Health, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.|Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders and the Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Zhejiang, China.|Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Zhejiang, China.|Department of Psychiatry, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Medial College, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yu
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of South Carolina, Columbia, South Carolina.
authors.forename: Svetlana V
authors.initials: SV
authors.lastname: Shinkareva
authors.affiliation: Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders and the Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Zhejiang, China.|Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Gong-Jun
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Ji
authors.affiliation: Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders and the Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Zhejiang, China.|Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Jue
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Medial College, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Zhong-Jin
authors.initials: ZJ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders and the Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Zhejiang, China.|Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Yu-Feng
authors.initials: YF
authors.lastname: Zang
authors.affiliation: Center for Cognition and Brain Disorders and the Affiliated Hospital, Hangzhou Normal University, Zhejiang, China.|Zhejiang Key Laboratory for Research in Assessment of Cognitive Impairments, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Liao
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, the Second Affiliated Hospital of Medial College, Zhejiang University, Zhejiang, China.
authors.forename: Ye-Lei
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Tang
mesh_terms: D015415:Biomarkers; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D002648:Child; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000503:physiopathology; D019305:Epilepsy, Rolandic / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009415:Nerve Net / Q000503:physiopathology; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D010296:Parietal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D013788:Thalamus / Q000503:physiopathology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers
keywords: EEG-fMRI; benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes; epileptic transients; intrinsic brain activity; multivariate pattern analysis