Recent theoretical models of language have emphasised the importance of integration within distributed networks during language processing. This is particularly relevant to young patients with epilepsy, as the topology of the functional network and its dynamics may be altered by the disease, resulting in reorganisation of functional language networks. Thus, understanding connectivity within the language network in patients with epilepsy could provide valuable insights into healthy and pathological brain function, particularly when combined with clinical correlates. The objective of this study was to investigate interactions within the language network in a paediatric population of epilepsy patients using measures of MEG phase synchronisation and graph-theoretical analysis, and to examine their association with language abilities. Task dependent increases in connectivity were observed in fronto-temporal networks during verb generation across a group of 22 paediatric patients (9 males and 13 females; mean age 14 years). Differences in network connectivity were observed between patients with typical and atypical language representation and between patients with good and poor language abilities. In addition, node centrality in left frontal and temporal regions was significantly associated with language abilities, where patients with good language abilities had significantly higher node centrality within inferior frontal and superior temporal regions of the left hemisphere, compared to patients with poor language abilities. Our study is one of the first to apply task-based measures of MEG network synchronisation in paediatric epilepsy, and we propose that these measures of functional connectivity and node centrality could be used as tools to identify critical regions of the language network prior to epilepsy surgery.

中文翻译：

---

使用 MEG 和图形分析绘制儿童癫痫的语言网络及其与语言能力的关联。

最近的语言理论模型强调了语言处理过程中分布式网络集成的重要性。这与年轻的癫痫患者尤其相关，因为功能网络的拓扑结构及其动态可能会因疾病而改变，从而导致功能语言网络的重组。因此，了解癫痫患者语言网络内的连接性可以为健康和病理性大脑功能提供有价值的见解，特别是与临床相关性相结合时。本研究的目的是使用 MEG 相位同步和图论分析的方法来调查癫痫儿童儿童群体中语言网络内的相互作用，并检查它们与语言能力的关联。在 22 名儿科患者（9 名男性和 13 名女性；平均年龄 14 岁）的动词生成过程中，在额颞叶网络中观察到任务依赖性连接性增加。在具有典型和非典型语言表征的患者之间以及具有良好和较差语言能力的患者之间观察到网络连接的差异。此外，左额叶和颞区的节点中心性与语言能力显着相关，与语言能力较差的患者相比，语言能力良好的患者左半球下额叶和颞上区的节点中心性显着较高。我们的研究是第一个在小儿癫痫中应用基于任务的 MEG 网络同步测量的研究之一，我们建议这些功能连接性和节点中心性的测量可以用作在癫痫手术前识别语言网络关键区域的工具。