title: fMRI brain response during sentence reading comprehension in children with benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Children with benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes (BECTS) often have language problems. Abnormal epileptic activity is found in central and temporal brain regions, which are involved in reading and semantic and syntactic comprehension. Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), we examined reading networks in BECTS children with a new sentence reading comprehension task involving semantic and syntactic processing.
  
  
  METHODS
  Fifteen children with BECTS (age=11y 1m ± 16 m; 12 boys) and 18 healthy controls (age=11 y 8m ± 20 m; 11 boys) performed an fMRI reading comprehension task in which they read a pair of syntactically complex sentences and decided whether the target sentence (the second sentence in the pair) was true or false with respect to the first sentence. All children also underwent an exhaustive neuropsychological assessment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We demonstrated weaknesses in several cognitive domains in BECTS children. During the sentence reading fMRI task, left inferior frontal regions and bilateral temporal areas were activated in BECTS children and healthy controls. However, additional brain regions such as the left hippocampus and precuneus were activated in BECTS children. Moreover, specific activation was found in the left caudate and putamen in BECTS children but not in healthy controls. Cognitive results and accuracy during the fMRI task were associated with specific brain activation patterns.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  BECTS children recruited a wider network to perform the fMRI sentence reading comprehension task, with specific activation in the left dorsal striatum. BECTS cognitive performance differently predicted functional activation in frontal and temporal regions compared to controls, suggesting differences in brain network organisation that contribute to reading comprehension.
authors.affiliation: University of Montreal, Psychology Department, Montreal, QC, Canada; CHU Ste Justine Research Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Malfait
authors.affiliation: CHU Ste Justine Research Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada; Barcelona Beta Brain Research Centre, Pasqual Maragall Foundation, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tucholka
authors.affiliation: University of Montreal, Psychology Department, Montreal, QC, Canada; CHU Ste Justine Research Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Mendizabal
authors.affiliation: CHU Ste Justine Research Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Tremblay
authors.affiliation: Division of Paediatric Neurology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Poulin
authors.affiliation: Division of Paediatric Neurology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Oskoui
authors.affiliation: Division of Paediatric Neurology, McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Srour
authors.affiliation: Neurology department, CHU Ste Justine, Montreal, QC, Canada; University of Montreal, Neurosciences Department, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Carmant
authors.affiliation: Neurology department, CHU Ste Justine, Montreal, QC, Canada; University of Montreal, Neurosciences Department, Montreal, QC, Canada.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Major
authors.affiliation: University of Montreal, Psychology Department, Montreal, QC, Canada; CHU Ste Justine Research Centre, Montreal, QC, Canada. Electronic address: sarah.lippe@umontreal.ca.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Lippé
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001931:Brain Mapping; D002648:Child; D032882:Comprehension / Q000502:physiology*; D019305:Epilepsy, Rolandic / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007091:Image Processing, Computer-Assisted; D007802:Language; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011932:Reading
keywords: Benign epilepsy with centro-temporal spikes; Children; Cognition; Comprehension; Functional magnetic resonance imaging; Language; Neuropsychology; Reading; Rolandic epilepsy; Semantic; Syntax