ArticleNeurosurgery2020
Brainstem Functional Connectivity Disturbances in Epilepsy may Recover After Successful Surgery.
Article in Neurosurgery, 2020. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 16 papers.
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Who cites it
16 citing papers in PubMed.
- Nucleus basalis functional connectivity aberrations in temporal lobe epilepsy and improvements after successful epilepsy surgery.Epilepsia · 2026Article
- The impact of seizures on REM sleep and the cholinergic pedunculopontine nucleus in a mouse model of Dravet Syndrome.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- The bed nucleus of the stria terminalis as a neuromodulatory target for refractory epilepsy.Frontiers in network physiology · 2026Review
- The impact of resective epilepsy surgery on the brain network: evidence from post-surgical imaging.Brain : a journal of neurology · 2025Review
- Impact of disease duration and surgical intervention on arousal networks in temporal lobe epilepsy.Journal of neurosurgery · 2025Article
- Abnormal functional connectivity of the posterior hypothalamus and other arousal regions in surgical temporal lobe epilepsy.Journal of neurosurgery · 2023Article
- Arousal and salience network connectivity alterations in surgical temporal lobe epilepsy.Journal of neurosurgery · 2023Article
- Amplitude synchronization of spontaneous activity of medial and lateral temporal gyri reveals altered thalamic connectivity in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy.Scientific reports · 2022Article
- Article
- Pedunculopontine Nucleus--Rapid Eye Movement Sleep--Electroencephalogram--Desynchronization (PRED) Axis in the Evolution of Epilepsy: A Novel Concept.Journal of epilepsy research · 2021Review
- Article
- People with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy have altered thalamo-occipital brain networks.Epilepsy & behavior : E&B · 2021Article
- Impaired vigilance networks in temporal lobe epilepsy: Mechanisms and clinical implications.Epilepsia · 2020Review
- Thalamic arousal network disturbances in temporal lobe epilepsy and improvement after surgery.Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry · 2019Article
- A systematic exploration of parameters affecting evoked intracranial potentials in patients with epilepsy.Brain stimulationArticle
- Article
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7 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundFocal seizures in temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) are associated with widespread brain network perturbations and neurocognitive problems.
objectiveTo determine whether brainstem connectivity disturbances improve with successful epilepsy surgery, as recent work has demonstrated decreased brainstem connectivity in TLE that is related to disease severity and neurocognitive profile.
methodsWe evaluated 15 adult TLE patients before and after (>1 yr; mean, 3.4 yr) surgery, and 15 matched control subjects using magnetic resonance imaging to measure functional and structural connectivity of ascending reticular activating system (ARAS) structures, including cuneiform/subcuneiform nuclei (CSC), pedunculopontine nucleus (PPN), and ventral tegmental area (VTA).
resultsTLE patients who achieved long-term postoperative seizure freedom (10 of 15) demonstrated increases in functional connectivity between ARAS structures and fronto-parietal-insular neocortex compared to preoperative baseline (P = .01, Kruskal-Wallis), with postoperative connectivity patterns resembling controls' connectivity. No functional connectivity changes were detected in 5 patients with persistent seizures after surgery (P = .9, Kruskal-Wallis). Among seizure-free postoperative patients, larger increases in CSC, PPN, and VTA functional connectivity were observed in individuals with more frequent seizures before surgery (P < .05 for each, Spearman's rho). Larger postoperative increases in PPN functional connectivity were seen in patients with lower baseline verbal IQ (P = .03, Spearman's rho) or verbal memory (P = .04, Mann-Whitney U). No changes in ARAS structural connectivity were detected after successful surgery.
conclusionARAS functional connectivity disturbances are present in TLE but may recover after successful epilepsy surgery. Larger increases in postoperative connectivity may be seen in individuals with more severe disease at baseline.
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