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Diffusion tensor imaging of partial intractable epilepsy

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Abstract

Our aim was to assess the value of diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in patients with partial intractable epilepsy. We used DTI (25 non-collinear directions) in 15 patients with a cortical lesion on conventional MRI. Fractional anisotropy (FA) was measured in the internal capsule, and in the normal-appearing white matter (WM), adjacent to the lesion, and away from the lesion, at a set distance of 2–3 cm. In each patient, increased or decreased FA measurements were those that varied from mirror values using an arbitrary 10% threshold. Over the whole population, ipsi- and contralateral FA measurements were also compared using a Wilcoxon test (p<0.05). Over the whole population, FA was significantly reduced in the WM adjacent to and away from the lesion, whilst being normal in the internal capsule. FA was reduced by more than 10% in the WM adjacent to and distant from the lesion in 13 and 12 patients respectively. For nine of the ten patients for whom the surgical resection encompassed the limits of the lesion on conventional MRI, histological data showed WM alterations (gliosis, axonal loss, abnormal cells). DTI often reveals WM abnormalities that are undetected on conventional MRI in patients with partial intractable epilepsy.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neuroradiology, Sainte-Anne Hospital, 1 rue Cabanis, 75674, Paris cedex 14, France

    Anne Dumas de la Roque, Catherine Oppenheim, Sebastian Rodrigo & Jean-François Meder

  2. Department of Neurosurgery, Sainte-Anne Hospital, 1 rue Cabanis, 75674, Paris cedex 14, France

    Francine Chassoux & Bertrand Devaux

  3. Department of Anatomopathology, Sainte-Anne Hospital, 1 rue Cabanis, 75674, Paris cedex 14, France

    Frédéric Beuvon & Catherine Daumas-Duport

Authors
  1. Anne Dumas de la Roque
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  2. Catherine Oppenheim
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  3. Francine Chassoux
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  4. Sebastian Rodrigo
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  5. Frédéric Beuvon
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  6. Catherine Daumas-Duport
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  7. Bertrand Devaux
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  8. Jean-François Meder
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Correspondence to Catherine Oppenheim.

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Dumas de la Roque, A., Oppenheim, C., Chassoux, F. et al. Diffusion tensor imaging of partial intractable epilepsy. Eur Radiol 15, 279–285 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-004-2578-8

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00330-004-2578-8

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