Evidence map›Paper›PMID 30096213›Full record

ArticleHuman brain mapping2018

Brainstem network disruption: A pathway to sudden unexplained death in epilepsy?

Susanne G Mueller, Maromi Nei, Lisa M Bateman, Robert Knowlton, Kenneth D Laxer, Daniel Friedman, Orrin Devinsky, Alica M Goldman

Open access · greenAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Human brain mapping, 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 58 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
58citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
8.9field-weighted citation impact, top 1% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

58 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 101 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Article
  3. Macro-structural brainstem volumetry in generalized epilepsy: assessment of subcortical network involvement.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2026
    Article
  4. Review
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  6. Article
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  8. Article
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  10. Article
  11. Review
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  14. Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy: Central Respiratory Chemoreception.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025
    Review
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Article
  18. Article
  19. Article
  20. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors at 5 institutions in 1 country.

Susanne G MuellerDepartment of Radiology, University of California, San Francisco, California.ORCID 0000-0002-5515-4432
Maromi NeiDepartment of Neurology, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Lisa M BatemanDepartment of Neurology, Columbia University, New York.
Robert KnowltonDepartment of Neurology, University of California, San Francisco, California.
Kenneth D LaxerPacific Epilepsy Program, California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco, California.
Daniel FriedmanDepartment of Neurology, New York University, New York.
Orrin DevinskyDepartment of Neurology, New York University, New York.
Alica M GoldmanBaylor Medical College, Houston, Texas.
New York University · USUniversity of California, San Francisco · USCalifornia Pacific Medical Center · USColumbia University · USThomas Jefferson University · US

Funding

SUDEP Research Alliance: Clinical Network Core; Application 2 of 7U01NS090406 · NINDS · BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE · PI GOLDMAN, ALICA M · 2014 to 2018
$833k
NINDS NIH HHS U01 NS090406
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Observations in witnessed Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) suggest that a fatal breakdown of the central autonomic control could play a major role in SUDEP. A previous MR study found volume losses in the mesencephalon in focal epilepsy that were more severe and extended into the lower brainstem in two patients who later died of SUDEP. The aims of this study were to demonstrate an association (1) between brainstem volume loss and impaired autonomic control (reduced heart rate variability [HRV]); (2) between brainstem damage and time to SUDEP in patients who later died of SUDEP. Two populations were studied: (1) Autonomic system function population (ASF, 18 patients with focal epilepsy, 11 controls) with HRV measurements and standardized 3 T MR exams. (2) SUDEP population (26 SUDEP epilepsy patients) with clinical MRI 1-10 years before SUDEP. Deformation-based morphometry of the brainstem was used to generate profile similarity maps from the resulting Jacobian determinant maps that were further characterized by graph analysis to identify regions with excessive expansion indicating significant volume loss or atrophy. The total number of regions with excessive expansion in ASF was negatively correlated with HRV (r = -.37, p = .03), excessive volume loss in periaqueductal gray/medulla oblongata autonomic nuclei explained most of the HRV associated variation (r/r

Indexed as

Brain StemDeath, SuddenEpilepsyAdolescentAdultAtrophyAutonomic Nervous SystemChildChild, PreschoolEpilepsies, PartialFemaleHeart RateHumansInfantMagnetic Resonance ImagingMaleautonomic controlbrainstemgraph analysisnetworkSUDEP

Identifiers

PMID30096213
PMCPMC6866413
OpenAlexW2886384416

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
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Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.