ArticleNeurology2026
Brainstem Respiratory Center Dysfunction in Persons With Epilepsy: An fMRI Study.
Article in Neurology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.
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1 citing paper in PubMed.
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND
objectivesPeri-ictal apnea is common in persons with epilepsy (PWE) and may contribute to sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP). It is not yet known whether brainstem respiratory centers in PWE respond differently to voluntary apnea. We addressed this issue using breath-holding (BH) functional MRI (fMRI).
methodsAdult PWE were recruited from a single outpatient clinic with the aim of achieving a comparable proportion of patients with and without generalized or focal-to-bilateral tonic-clonic seizures. Age-matched and sex-matched healthy controls were recruited through public advertisements. Exclusion criteria included physiologic and medical conditions known to alter respiration. All participants underwent fMRI while performing voluntary inspiratory and expiratory BH tasks. Respiratory rate, oxygen saturation, and end-tidal O
resultsThe study included 31 PWE (mean age 34.0 ± 11.6 years, 51.6% female) and 21 controls (mean age 32.8 ± 9.9, 52.4% female). At the group level, PWE had significantly lower brainstem activation than controls during both expiratory BH (Cohen DISCUSSION: A significant proportion of PWE seem to suffer from interictal dysfunction of brainstem regions involved in respiratory control. These abnormalities could be detected at the individual level using a simple BH fMRI paradigm, suggesting potential for translation into a clinical biomarker. Future studies are needed to confirm these findings in larger populations and investigate their relation to SUDEP.
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