Increased thalamic connectivity in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy based on electroencephalography source-level analysis.

BACKGROUND

This study investigated alterations in the intrinsic thalamic network of patients with juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) based on electroencephalography (EEG) source-level analysis.

METHODS

We enrolled patients newly diagnosed with JME, as well as healthy controls. The assessments were conducted in the resting state. We computed sources based on the scalp electrical potentials using a minimum norm imaging method and a standardized low-resolution brain electromagnetic tomography approach. To create a functional connectivity matrix, we used a Talairach atlas to define thalamic nodes and applied the coherence method to measure brain synchronization as edges. We then calculated the intrinsic thalamic network using graph theory. We compared the intrinsic thalamic network of the patients with JME to those of the healthy controls.

RESULTS

This study included 67 patients with JME and 66 healthy controls. EEG source-level analysis revealed significant differences in the intrinsic thalamic networks between patients with JME and healthy controls. The measures of functional connectivity (radius, diameter, and characteristic path length) were significantly lower in patients with JME than in in healthy controls (radius: 2.769 vs. 3.544, p=0.015; diameter: 4.464 vs. 5.443, p=0.024; characteristic path length: 2.248 vs. 2.616, p=0.046).

CONCLUSION

We demonstrated alterations in the intrinsic thalamic network in patients with JME compared to those in healthy controls based on EEG source-level analysis. These findings indicated increased thalamic connectivity in the JME group. These intrinsic thalamic network changes may be related to the pathophysiology of JME.