Voxel-based morphometry evaluation of patients with photosensitive juvenile myoclonic epilepsy

We aim to investigate structural brain abnormalities in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) patients with photosensitivity (PS). Sixty JME patients, 19 (32%) of whom were photosensitive, were submitted to 1.5T magnetic resonance voxel-based morphometry (VBM). The control group (CTL) consisted of 30 sex-matched healthy volunteers. JME patients with (JME-PS) and without (JME-NPS) PS did not differ in their duration of disease, treatment or seizure control. VBM revealed significantly reduced bilateral gray matter volume (GMV) in thalami, insula cortices and cerebellar hemispheres; while significantly increased GMV was observed in the right superior frontal, orbitofrontal and medial frontal gyri of the JME group compared to CTL. JME-PS had reduced bilateral GMV of visual cortices when compared with CTL; while it was not seen among JME-NPS patients. Reduced left hippocampus and left inferior frontal gyrus volume was observed among JME-PS compared with JME-NPS. This study demonstrates structural abnormalities beyond the limits of the frontal lobes and provides evidence for the role of the occipital cortex in human PS, reinforcing the existence of functional-anatomic ictogenic networks in JME and the concept of 'system epilepsies'.