Comparisons of MEG, EEG, and ECoG source localization in neocortical partial epilepsy in humans

In order to delineate the characteristics of epileptic spikes, 1946 different spikes were studied in 6 patients with complex partial epilepsy. Non-invasive MEG and EEG source analysis of interictal spikes were contrasted to ECoG localization, surgical outcome and presence of lesions on MRI. Results indicated that: (1) using the most frequent occurring spike topography patterns from a large sample of spikes improved goodness-of-fit values for both MEG and EEG localization, (2) when spike patterns could be appropriately matched on several successive MEG measurements to provide an adequate matrix (3 of 6 subjects), there was excellent agreement between MEG dipole sources and ECoG sources as well as surgical outcome and presence of MRI lesions, (3) EEG source analyses also gave good results but not as consistently as MEG.