Epilepsy incidence and prevalence peaks in older adults, yet systematic studies of brain aging and epilepsy remain limited. We investigated topological network disruption in older adults with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE; age > 55 years). Additionally, we examined the potential network disruption overlap between TLE and amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI), the prodromal stage of Alzheimer disease. Measures of network integration (“global path efficiency”) and segregation (“transitivity” and “modularity”) were calculated from cortical thickness covariance from 73 TLE subjects, 79 aMCI subjects, and 70 healthy controls. Compared to controls, TLE patients demonstrated abnormal measures of segregation (increased transitivity and decreased modularity) and integration (decreased global path efficiency). aMCI patients also displayed increased transitivity and decreased global path efficiency, but these differences were less pronounced than in TLE. At the local level, TLE patients demonstrated decreased local path efficiency focused in the bilateral temporal lobes, whereas aMCI patients had a more frontal‐parietal distribution. These results suggest that network disruption at the global and local level is present in both disorders, but global disruption may be a particularly salient feature in older adults with TLE. These findings motivate further research into whether these network changes have distinct cognitive correlates or are progressive in older adults with epilepsy.

中文翻译：

---

患有颞叶癫痫的老年人的拓扑改变不同于遗忘性轻度认知障碍

癫痫发病率和患病率在老年人中达到高峰，但对脑衰老和癫痫的系统研究仍然有限。我们调查了患有颞叶癫痫（TLE；年龄 > 55 岁）的老年人的拓扑网络中断。此外，我们检查了 TLE 和遗忘型轻度认知障碍 (aMCI) 之间潜在的网络中断重叠，这是阿尔茨海默病的前驱阶段。从 73 名 TLE 受试者、79 名 aMCI 受试者和 70 名健康对照的皮质厚度协方差计算网络整合（“全局路径效率”）和隔离（“传递性”和“模块化”）的测量值。与对照组相比，TLE 患者表现出异常的分离测量（传递性增加和模块化降低）和整合（全局路径效率降低）。aMCI 患者也表现出传递性增加和全局路径效率降低，但这些差异不如 TLE 明显。在局部层面，TLE 患者表现出集中在双侧颞叶的局部路径效率降低，而 aMCI 患者的额顶分布更多。这些结果表明，全球和地方层面的网络中断在这两种疾病中都存在，但全球中断可能是患有 TLE 的老年人的一个特别显着的特征。这些发现激发了进一步研究这些网络变化是否具有明显的认知相关性或在患有癫痫的老年人中是渐进的。TLE 患者表现出集中在双侧颞叶的局部路径效率降低，而 aMCI 患者的额顶分布更多。这些结果表明，全球和地方层面的网络中断在这两种疾病中都存在，但全球中断可能是患有 TLE 的老年人的一个特别显着的特征。这些发现激发了进一步研究这些网络变化是否具有明显的认知相关性或在患有癫痫的老年人中是渐进的。TLE 患者表现出集中在双侧颞叶的局部路径效率降低，而 aMCI 患者的额顶分布更多。这些结果表明，全球和地方层面的网络中断在这两种疾病中都存在，但全球中断可能是患有 TLE 的老年人的一个特别显着的特征。这些发现激发了进一步研究这些网络变化是否具有明显的认知相关性或在患有癫痫的老年人中是渐进的。