Mesiobasal versus lateral temporal lobe epilepsy: metabolic differences in the temporal lobe shown by interictal...

Metabolic abnormalities in the temporal lobe (TL) of 25 patients suffering from temporal lobe epilepsy of mesiobasal or lateral TL origin have been investigated using interictal [18F]-fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET). The epileptogenic area was determined by ictal EEG recordings using foramen ovale and scalp electrodes in 20 patients, and by the use of stereo-electroencephalography in one patient. Four patients with structural lesions on their MRIs had noninvasive ictal surface EEG recordings. Sixteen patients had a clear-cut mesiobasal seizure onset, and in five patients the seizures originated from the lateral temporal neocortex. Twenty-four patients underwent selective surgery. Patients with temporal limbic seizures associated with mesial gliosis (n = 15) had the lowest FDG uptake in the entire TL, followed by patients with lateral temporal seizure origin (n = 5). Patients with tumors located in the mesiobasal TL (n = 5) showed, in general, only a slight decrease of glucose metabolism in all TL structures. There was no clear-cut correlation between the degree of hypometabolism and the location of EEG-defined epileptogenic focus. The metabolic pattern, however, differed between the patient groups and allowed a discrimination between patients of mesial temporal and lateral temporal seizure onset.