Cognitive and behavioral comorbidities in Rolandic epilepsy and their relation with default mode network's functional...

Rolandic epilepsy (RE) is characterized by typical interictal-electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns mainly localized in centrotemporal and parietooccipital areas. An aberrant intrinsic organization of the default mode network (DMN) due to repeated disturbances from spike-generating areas may be able to account for specific cognitive deficits and behavioral problems in RE. The aim of the present study was to investigate cognitive development (CD) and socioemotional development (SED) in patients with RE during active disease in relation to DMN connectivity and network topology.

In 10 children with RE and active EEG, CD was assessed using the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children-IV (WISC-IV); SED was assessed using the Fünf-Faktoren-Fragebogen für Kinder (FFFK), a Big-Five inventory for the assessment of personality traits in children. Functional connectivity (FC) in the DMN was determined from a 15-minute resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), and network properties were calculated using standard graph-theoretical measures.

More severe deficits of verbal abilities tended to be associated with an earlier age at epilepsy onset, but were not directly related to the number of seizures and disease duration. Nonetheless, at the network level, disease duration was associated with alterations of the efficiency and centrality of parietal network nodes and midline structures. Particularly, centrality of the left inferior parietal lobe (IPL) was found to be linked with CD. Reduced centrality of the left IPL and alterations supporting a rather segregated processing within DMN's subsystems was associated with a more favorable CD. A more complicated SED was associated with high seizure frequency and long disease duration, and revealed links with a less favorable CD.

An impaired CD and - because of their interrelation - SED might be mediated by a common pathomechanism reflected in an aberrant organization, and thus, a potential functional deficit of the DMN. A functional segregation of (left) parietal network nodes from the DMN and a rather segregated processing mode within the DMN might have positive implications/protective value for CD in patients with RE.