Abstract
Removal of
epileptogenic brain areas where seizures originate can offer patients with
refractory epilepsy, the chance of being free of seizures. The resection has be
balanced against the preservation of eloquent cortical areas to reduce
postoperative morbidity. Screening technologies such as EEG, fMRI, PET, and
SPECT provide general location but not the exact boundaries of the
seizure-inducing brain areas. Although Electrocorticography (ECoG) can delineate
such boundaries, it requires prolonged recordings with electrodes implanted
long term and hence increasing risks of hemorrhage, infection, and cerebral
edema. Other techniques such as Intraoperative MRI and fMRI unfortunately demand
a high standard of infrastructure and maintenance.FIU inventors
have invented a method based on hybrid spectroscopy imaging to detect and
differentiate epileptogenic from eloquent and normal cortices. A method for
identifying epileptogenic cortices in a brain may include detecting areas in
the brain that are undergoing cerebral blood volume low-frequency oscillations,
areas that are undergoing blood oxygen low-frequency oscillations; mapping
clusters of the brain which the cerebral blood volume low-frequency
oscillations are negatively correlated with the blood oxygenation low-frequency
oscillations, and analyzing the time-based relationship between the clusters of
the brain that are undergoing negatively correlated low-frequency oscillations
to determine areas causing negatively correlated low-frequency oscillations to
occur elsewhere. The methods can provide epileptogenic cortex detection and
hence improve the outcome of epilepsy surgery.
Benefit
· Precise detection of seizure-inducing brain areas. · No need for prolonged electrode implants.
Market Application
The method has applications in treating patients with the Intraoperative epileptic cortex.
Brochure
