Temporal pole hypometabolism may be linked to a reduction of grey matter in temporal lobe epilepsy

In order to gain further insight into the pathophysiology of temporal pole hypometabolism, we decided to perform a voxel-based automated analysis of structural MRI in epileptic patients with or without temporal pole hypometabolism. After fully automated segmentation of cerebral grey matter from structural T1-weighted MRI scans, we applied the automated technique of statistical parametric mapping (SPM) to the analysis of grey matter of nine control subjects, and 18 patients with right medial temporal lobe epilepsy with (n = 13) or without (n = 5) significant temporal pole hypometabolism. Group comparisons between subject controls and epileptic patients with temporal pole hypometabolism showed a reduction of grey matter located into the superior part of the right temporal pole, the right hippocampus and the left parahippocampal gyrus. Epileptic patients without temporal pole hypometabolism did not exhibit temporal pole grey matter abnormalities. These findings suggest that a reduction of temporal pole neocortical grey matter might contribute to temporal pole hypometabolism in temporal lobe epilepsy.