Study Of Complex Brain Functional Network In New-onset And Chronic Benign Epilepsy With Centrotemporal Spikes

Objectives:To study the topological properties changes of whole-brain functional network in children with new-onset drug-na?ve Benign Epilepsy with Centrotemporal Spikes?BECTS?and chronic BECTS who had taken antiepileptic drugs?AEDs?based on resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging?rs-fMRI?and graph theory analysis?GTA?,and analyze the correlation between abnormal topological properties and intelligence quotient?IQ?,age of onset,which provides references for clinical treatment,prognostic judgment and cognitive evaluation of children with BECTS.Methods:Nineteen cases of new-onset drug-na?ve BECTS?10 males and 9 females;age range,6-13 years;mean age±standard deviation,8.79 years±1.72?and twenty-six cases of chronic BECTS?15 males and 11 females;age range,6-14 years;mean age±standard deviation,9.96 years±2.03?from the pediatric outpatient department from January 2014 to October 2019 in the affiliated hospital of Zunyi Medical University were collected.At the same time,twenty-three healthy volunteers were recruited as the control group?12 males and 11 females;age range,8-14 years;mean age±standard deviation,11.65 years±1.72?.GE3.0T HDxt magnetic resonance imaging scanner was used to collect 3D-T₁WI and rs-fMRI data of all subjects,and the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children?C-WISC?was used to conduct intelligence tests on all children with BECTS on the day of examination.DPARSFv4.4 was used to preprocess the acquired rs-fMRI data.Then,GRETNA V2.0 was used to construct a brain functional network based on the Dosenbach160 atlas,and the global and node topological parameters were calculated.Finally,based on SPSS22.0,age was used as a control variable to perform covariance analysis to obtain the differences in topological parameters between the groups,and the Pearson correlation between abnormal topological parameters of BECTS and IQ,age of onset was analyzed.In this study,P<0.05 was considered statistically significant.Results:There was no significant difference among the three groups in gender,but a significant differences in age;There was a significant difference in duration between the new-onset group and the chronic group,but no significant difference in age of onset and IQ.The brain networks of the BECTS subgroups and the control group had the characteristics of"small world":?>1,??1 and?>1.The clustering coefficient?C_p?and local efficiency(E_loc)of the chronic group were lower than those of the new-onset group and the control group?P<0.05,FDR corrected?.Correlation analysis showed that C_p and E_loc of the chronic group were positively correlated with verbal intelligence quotient?VIQ??P<0.05,uncorrected?.In the default mode network?DMN?,the nodal centralities of the left precuneus and the left inferior temporal gyrus were higher in the new-onset and chronic BECTS than in the control group,and the nodal centrality of the left angular gyrus was higher in the chronic BECTS than in the control group;The nodal centralities of the bilateral dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex and left ventral anterior prefrontal cortex in the frontal-parietal network?FPN?were higher in the chronic BECTS than in the control group,the nodal centrality of the left dorsal frontal cortex was higher in the new-onset BECTS than in the chronic group and the control group;The nodal centralities of the bilateral middle insula in the cingulo-opercular network?CON?were lower in the new-onset and chronic BECTS than in the control group,and the nodal centralities of the left temporal-parietal junction and the right fusiform gyrus were higher in the chronic BECTS than in the control group;The nodal centralities of the bilateral middle insula in sensorimotor network?SMN?were lower in chronic BECTS than in control group;The node centrality of the right posterior occipital lobe in the occipital network?OCC?was higher in chronic BECTS than in the control group and the new-onset group?P<0.05,uncorrected?.Correlation analysis showed that the node degree of the right dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex in the new-onset group was negatively correlated with the age of onset;The nodal efficiency of the left angular gyrus in the chronic group was negatively correlated with VIQ and full scale intelligence quotient?FSIQ?;The nodal centrality of the right dorsal lateral prefrontal cortex in the chronic group was negatively correlated with performance intelligence quotient?PIQ?and FSIQ?P<0.05,uncorrected?.Conclusion:Both BECTS and control group showed small world characteristic of functional networks,but the topological properties of the BECTS subgroups were abnormal.The global properties of chronic BECTS were lower than those of new-onset BECTS and control group,and were related to the lower VIQ;the brain regions with abnormal nodal properties in the chronic BECTS group were more extensive than those in the new-onset BECTS;some abnormal global and nodal properties were correlated with IQ and age of onset.It provides imaging evidence for the change of brain function in children with BECTS,and the influence of AEDs and chronic seizures on brain function.