Gray and White Matter Volumes and Cognitive Dysfunction in Drug-Naïve Newly Diagnosed Pediatric Epilepsy

Figure 1

VBM results of brain regional differences between patients with newly diagnosed pediatric epilepsy and control subjects and correlations between VBM results and cognitive functions in control subjects. Patients with newly diagnosed pediatric epilepsy showed VBM abnormalities in both GM and WM areas compared with control subjects at the time of diagnosis, which suggests these could be more related to the epilepsy itself rather than long-standing seizures or medication effects. GM volumes were decreased in the left inferior frontal and right middle frontal gyri in epilepsy patients compared with control subjects ((a) and (b)). In addition, association patterns between structural findings and cognitive functions showed clear difference between groups; that is, decreased verbal IQ scores were correlated with decreased GM volumes in the left superior temporal and anterior cingulate gyri and decreased WM volumes in the left superior temporal and the right parahippocampal gyri in control subjects (c), but no correlation was observed in epilepsy patients. Please also note Tables 4 and 5 for coordinates and more detailed information. L, left; R, right.

(a)

(b)

(c)