Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40040839›Full record

ArticleBrain communications2025

Longitudinal alterations in brain networks and thalamocortical connectivity in paediatric focal epilepsy: a structural connectomics pilot study.

Aswin Chari, Rory J Piper, Rachel Wilson-Jeffers, Michelle Ruiz-Perez, Kiran Seunarine, M Zubair Tahir, Chris A Clark, Richard Rosch, Rod C Scott, Torsten Baldeweg and 1 more

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Brain communications, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Review
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

11 authors.

Aswin ChariDevelopmental Neurosciences, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK.
Rory J PiperDevelopmental Neurosciences, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6422-5853
Rachel Wilson-JeffersDevelopmental Neurosciences, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK.
Michelle Ruiz-PerezDevelopmental Neurosciences, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK.
Kiran SeunarineDevelopmental Imaging and Biophysics Unit, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK.
M Zubair TahirDevelopmental Neurosciences, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK.
Chris A ClarkDevelopmental Imaging and Biophysics Unit, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK.
Richard RoschDepartment for Basic and Clinical Neuroscience, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, King's College London, London SE5 8AB, UK.
Rod C ScottDivision of Neurology, Nemours Children's Hospital, Wilmington, DE 19803, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8944-928X
Torsten BaldewegDevelopmental Neurosciences, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5724-1679
Martin M TisdallDevelopmental Neurosciences, Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health, University College London, London WC1N 1EH, UK.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8880-8386

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Epilepsy is an archetypal brain network disorder characterized by recurrent seizures and associated psychological, cognitive and behavioural sequelae. Progressive brain network dysfunction may contribute to poorer outcomes following treatment, but this has never been tested in humans. In this structural connectomics pilot study, we assess whether there is progressive brain network dysfunction in a cohort of 23 children undergoing repeated multi-shell diffusion tensor imaging as part of their pre-surgical evaluation of focal epilepsy prior to epilepsy surgery. We analyse global and nodal graph metrics and thalamocortical connectivity, comparing the longitudinal changes to a cross-sectional cohort of 57 healthy controls. We identify no robust longitudinal changes in global or nodal network properties over a median of 1.15 years between scans. We also do not identify robust longitudinal changes in thalamic connectivity between scans. On sensitivity analyses, we identify increases in weighted degree at higher scales of brain parcellation and a decrease in the proportion of nodes with a low participation coefficient, suggesting progressive increases in intermodular connections. These findings of no or subtle structural longitudinal brain network changes over a relatively short timeframe indicate that either there are no progressive structural brain network changes over time in epilepsy or the changes appear over longer timescales. Larger studies with longer timeframes between scans may help clarify these findings.

Indexed as

connectomicsdiffusion MRIepilepsy surgeryfocal epilepsypaediatric epilepsy

Identifiers

PMID40040839
PMCPMC11878571

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Registered trials

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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.