AUTHOR=Liu Yin , Li Quanji , Yi Dali , Duan Junhong , Zhang Qingxia , Huang Yunchen , He Haibo , Liao Yunjie , Song Zhi , Deng Lingling , Wang Wei , Liu Ding 

TITLE=Topological abnormality of structural covariance network in MRI-negative frontal lobe epilepsy

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Neuroscience

VOLUME=Volume 17 - 2023

YEAR=2023

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1136110

DOI=10.3389/fnins.2023.1136110

ISSN=1662-453X

ABSTRACT=Background: Frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE) is the second most common type of focal epilepsy, however, imaging studies of FLE have been far less than TLE and the structural findings were not consistent in previous literature. 
Object: Investigate the changes in cortical thickness in patients with FLE and the alteration of the structural covariance networks (SCNs) of cortical thickness with graph-theory.
Method: Thirty patients with FLE (18 males/12 females; 28.3 ± 11.8 years) and twenty-seven demographically matched controls (15 males/12 females; 29.2  ±  9.7  years) were included in this study with high-resolution structural brain MRI scans. The cortical thickness was calculated, and structural covariance network (SCN) of cortical thickness were reconstructed  using 68×68 matrix and analyzed with graph-theory approach.  
Result: Cortical thickness was not significantly different between two groups, but path length and node betweenness were significantly increased in patients with FLE, and the regional network alterations were significantly changed in right precentral gyrus and right temporal pole (FDR corrected, p < 0.05). Comparing to HC group, network hubs decreased and shifted away from frontal lobe.
Conclusion: The topological properties of cortical thickness covariance network were significantly altered in patients with FLE, even without obvious surface-based morphological damage. Graph-theory based SCN analysis may provide sensitive neuroanatomical biomarkers for FLE.