OBJECTIVES Imaging and neurophysiological data shows that the cortical disfunction caused by focal epilepsy is not limited to the epileptic focus, thus raising the modern vision of focal epilepsy as a network disorder. The involvement of deep thalamo-cortical projections in temporal lobe epilepsy is a clear example. We aimed at demonstrating the interictal functional impairment of thalamo-cortical network in drug-naïve TLE patients through the study of high frequency oscillations of somatosensory evoked potentials (HF-SEP). METHODS Twelve healthy controls (HC; 8 females, 52.2 ± 17.3 years-old) and 12 drug-naïve TLE patients (8 females, 55.5 ± 21.5 years-old) underwent bilateral median HF-SEP, recorded by scalp electrodes. Cp3'-Fz and Cp4'-Fz traces were filtered (400-800 Hz) to evidence HF-SEP. RESULTS HF-SEP duration in the affected hemisphere was significantly longer when compared to that of both the unaffected hemisphere and HC hemispheres. No significant inter-hemispheric differences were found in areas, powers and latencies of HF-SEP wavelets. CONCLUSION Our results demonstrate that TLE induces early interictal functional impairments of the thalamo-cortical network. SIGNIFICANCE Our data strongly corroborates the vision of focal epilepsy as a network disorder and offers a new neurophysiological tool to test pharmacological, surgical and neuromodulatory therapies.

中文翻译：

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颞叶癫痫的丘脑皮质网络功能障碍

目的影像学和神经生理学数据表明，局灶性癫痫引起的皮质功能障碍不仅限于癫痫灶，从而提高了局灶性癫痫作为网络障碍的现代视野。颞叶癫痫中深部丘脑皮质投射的参与就是一个明显的例子。我们旨在通过研究体感诱发电位 (HF-SEP) 的高频振荡来证明未接受药物治疗的 TLE 患者丘脑皮质网络的发作间期功能障碍。方法 12 名健康对照者（HC；8 名女性，52.2 ± 17.3 岁）和 12 名未接受药物治疗的 TLE 患者（8 名女性，55.5 ± 21.5 岁）接受了双侧中位 HF-SEP，由头皮电极记录。Cp3'-Fz 和 Cp4'-Fz 痕迹被过滤 (400-800 Hz) 以证明 HF-SEP。结果 与未受影响半球和 HC 半球相比，受影响半球的 HF-SEP 持续时间显着更长。在 HF-SEP 小波的面积、功率和延迟方面没有发现显着的半球间差异。结论 我们的结果表明，TLE 会诱发丘脑-皮质网络的早期发作间期功能障碍。意义 我们的数据有力地证实了局灶性癫痫是一种网络障碍的观点，并提供了一种新的神经生理学工具来测试药物、手术和神经调节疗法。结论 我们的结果表明，TLE 会诱发丘脑-皮质网络的早期发作间期功能障碍。意义 我们的数据有力地证实了局灶性癫痫是一种网络障碍的观点，并提供了一种新的神经生理学工具来测试药物、手术和神经调节疗法。结论 我们的结果表明，TLE 会诱发丘脑-皮质网络的早期发作间期功能障碍。意义 我们的数据有力地证实了局灶性癫痫是一种网络障碍的观点，并提供了一种新的神经生理学工具来测试药物、手术和神经调节疗法。