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Updated: Jun 5, 2026
Network Analysis of Foramen Ovale Electrode Recordings in Drug-resistant Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Patients
Published on: December 18, 2016
Cortical curvature analysis in MRI-negative temporal lobe epilepsy: a surrogate marker for malformations of cortical
Lisa Ronan1, Cathy Scanlon, Kevin Murphy
1Brain Mapping Unit, Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK. lisa.ronan@gmail.com
Purpose:
To investigate cerebral cortical surface morphology in a magnetic resonance (MRI)-negative temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) cohort, and to differentiate between the effects on cortical morphology of cerebral volume loss associated with TLE, and abnormalities suggestive of malformations of cortical development (MCDs).
Methods:
MRI data was gathered for 29 MRI-negative patients and 40 neurologically normal controls. Automated methods of surface reconstruction were applied to all MRI data for the purposes of localized analysis of cortical curvature. As an adjunct to this analysis, measures of whole-brain gray and white matter volumes, as well as cortical thickness, were also generated to determine the degree of whole-brain volume loss in TLE, and its impact on cortical morphology.
Results:
Automated analysis of the average cortical surface of the patient group revealed an area of abnormal cortical curvature in the basal left temporal lobe. The presence of whole-brain volume loss in TLE was confirmed and found not to contribute to the cortical curvature abnormality in the temporal lobe. These results support the hypothesis that cortical curvature abnormalities in TLE may be indicative of a subtle MCD.
Discussion:
Subtle MCDs such as abnormal indices of curvature may be associated with partial epilepsy. Analysis of these parameters may increase the diagnostic yield from MRI.
