Abstracts

Rationale: We studied to investigate the anatomical and pathophysiological nature of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) using a multimodal neuroimaging approach including structural (T1 image) and connectional (diffusion tensor imaging, DTI) imaging data. Methods: High-resolution T1 and DTI images were acquired on a 1.5T MRI in twenty-four patients with JME and 26 controls. Thalamic and hippocampal volumes were manually obtained from each subject's brain to identify the white matter regions which are correlated to their volume loss. We used FreeSurfer for cortical thickness measurements and Tract-based spatial statistics (TBSS) processing to assess the white matter integrity of patients. Results: JME patients showed that hippocampal volume loss was significantly correlated with increasedMD value in antero-inferiorfrontal WM, both uncinate fasciculus, and temporal WM by TBSS analysis. Thalamic volume loss was also well correlated with both antero-inferior, dorsolateral frontal area, and deep WM of parietal and posterior cingulate area. Conclusions: JME patients showed that structuralthalamic and hippocampal volume loss was explicitly correlatedwith the derangement of water diffusivity of white matter along brain areas that connected not only thalamic but also hippocampal regions. Further large population-based studies with not only structural T1 image but DTI may elucidate not only the underlying structural & connectional nature, but the heterogenous clinical features of JME patients.