Typical childhood absence seizures are associated with thalamic activation

Abstract

Functional MRI with simultaneously acquired EEG (fMRI/EEG) can identify areas of signal change associated with interictal discharges. We report the fMRI/EEG study of a child with newly-diagnosed IGE, performed prior to the start of antiepileptic medication. The 7-years-old girl had very frequent absences, associated with eyelid myoclonia. Her EEG showed frequent, typical 3/sec discharges. Functional MRI was performed with a 3T scanner using whole brain gradient echo-planar imaging, and the EEG was recorded with 18, non-metallic, scalp electrodes. Ten bursts of generalized discharges were captured during 30 minutes fMRI/EEG acquisition. The bursts lasted 3.4 (SD ± 0.6) seconds. Event-related ..