EEG source connectivity to localize the seizure onset zone in patients with drug resistant epilepsy

Electrical source imaging (ESI) from interictal scalp EEG is increasingly validated and used as a valuable tool in the presurgical evaluation of epilepsy as a reflection of the irritative zone. ESI of ictal scalp EEG to localize the seizure onset zone (SOZ) remains challenging. We investigated the value of an approach for ictal imaging using ESI and functional connectivity analysis (FC). Ictal scalp EEG from 111 seizures in 27 patients who had Engel class I outcome at least 1 year following resective surgery was analyzed. For every seizure, an artifact-free epoch close to the seizure onset was selected and ESI using LORETA was applied. In addition, the reconstructed sources underwent FC using the spectrum-weighted Adaptive Directed Transfer Function. This resulted in the estimation of the SOZ in two ways: (i) the source with maximal power after ESI, (ii) the source with the strongest outgoing connections after combined ESI and FC. Next, we calculated the distance between the estimated SOZ and the border of the resected zone (RZ) for both approaches and called this the localization error ((i) LE_pow and (ii) LE_conn respectively). By comparing LE_pow and LE_conn, we assessed the added value of FC. The source with maximal power after ESI was inside the RZ (LE_pow = 0 mm) in 31% of the seizures and estimated within 10 mm from the border of the RZ (LE_pow ≤ 10 mm) in 42%. Using ESI and FC, these numbers increased to 72% for LE_conn = 0 mm and 94% for LE_conn ≤ 10 mm. FC provided a significant added value to ESI alone (p < 0.001). ESI combined with subsequent FC is able to localize the SOZ in a non-invasive way with high accuracy. Therefore it could be a valuable tool in the presurgical evaluation of epilepsy.