Authors :
Presenting Author: Leylanis Barbot, BS – Boston Medical Center, Boston, MA USA
Madeline Klipfel, MS – BU Chobanian and Avedisian school of Medicine, Boston, MA USA
Caroline Altaras, PhD – Boston Medical Center, BU Chobanian and Avedisian school of Medicine, Boston, MA USA
Monica Ly, PhD – Boston Medical Center, BU Chobanian and Avedisian school of Medicine, Boston, MA USA
Joseph Sisto, MPH – Boston Medical Center, BU Chobanian and Avedisian school of Medicine, Boston, MA USA
Neelesh Pandey, Undergraduate – BU Chobanian and Avedisian school of Medicine, Boston, MA USA
Maria Stefanidou, MD – Boston Medical Center, BU Chobanian and Avedisian school of Medicine, Boston, MA USA
Pratik Rohatgi, MD – Boston Medical Center, BU Chobanian and Avedisian school of Medicine, Boston, MA USA
Osamu Sakai, MD PhD – MGB, Harvard University, Boston, MA USA
Chad Farris, MD PhD – Boston Medical Center, BU Chobanian and Avedisian school of Medicine, Boston, MA USA
Abrar Al-Faraj, MD – Boston Medical Center, BU Chobanian and Avedisian school of Medicine, Boston, MA USA
Mohammad Qureshi, MPH – Boston Medical Center, BU Chobanian and Avedisian school of Medicine, Boston, MA USA
Ning Hua, PhD – Boston Medical Center, BU Chobanian and Avedisian school of Medicine, Boston, MA USA
Myriam Abdennadher, MD – Boston Medical Center, BU Chobanian and Avedisian school of Medicine, Boston, MA USA
Rationale:
Temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) is the most common form of epilepsy type and involves the hippocampus. Epilepsy patients may experience visual memory(VM) deficits. Previous studies have identified cerebral blood flow(CBF) alteration in epilepsy and in those with cognitive impairment in other neurological disorders. Our prior work has demonstrated evidence of impaired CBF in epilepsy. The role of CBF alteration in memory decline remains unclear. This study aims to explore the relationship between CBF and abnormal VM difficulties and enhance research in this direction. This and future work can improve understanding about mechanisms contributing to memory decline in epilepsy and better predict the risk for VM worsening after epilepsy surgery.
Methods:
We included epilepsy participants who completed a neuropsychological evaluation as part of their clinical epilepsy surgery work-up and perfusion imaging using arterial spin labeling (ASL) MRI. To assess VM, we created a composite score based on delayed recall scores of 3 commonly used VM tests in our epilepsy clinic, established through consensus with two clinical/research neuropsychologists: the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCF), the Brief Visuospatial Memory Test Revised (BVMT-R), and the Repeatable Battery for the Assessment of Neuropsychological Status–Figure subset (RBANS-Figure). Less than 35 was an abnormal composite score, corresponding to 1.5 standard deviations (SD) below the mean for normative populations. Clinical data, including seizure frequency at the time of MRI, seizure type, age and age at seizure onset, were collected during the MRI visit. CBF was quantified using ASL MRI and measured in temporal lobes (TL). We calculated relative focal CBF ratio to all cortical CBF and TL CBF asymmetry index. Statistical analyses were performed using SPSS, with coup comparisons conducted using a Mann-Whitney and associations assessed via Person correlation. Significance was set at p < 0.05.