Subcortical gray matter changes in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy: a volBrain study.

Abstract

Background: Routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME) often shows no obvious abnormalities. However, recent neuroimaging investigations have highlighted potential structural and functional abnormalities in the thalamus of JME patients. This study aimed to investigate brain anatomical differences in JME patients using volBrain, a quantitative assessment method that, to the best of our knowledge, represents one of the first such analyses in the literature.

Materials and methods: Seventeen patients diagnosed with JME, 18 patients with generalised tonic-clonic seizures alone (GTCA), and 15 healthy controls (HCs) were included in the study. Before starting antiepileptic treatment, we analysed subcortical grey matter volumes in patients with JME, those with GTCA, and HCs, using the volBrain method.

Results: Seventeen patients with JME (11 females, mean age = 16.1 ± 3.2), 18 patients with GTCA (10 females, mean age = 15.5 ± 2.9), and 15 HCs (10 females, mean age = 15.9 ± 2.8) were included in the analysis. No significant difference was found for relative globus pallidus, caudate, or putamen volumes among the groups with JME, GTCA, and the HC group. In pairwise comparisons, both right and left thalamic volumes were lower in patients with JME than in HCs, and in patients with JME than in patients with GTCA.

Conclusions: This study underlines the role of volume analysis and the volBrain method in detecting thalamic microstructural changes in JME patients, even when conventional MRI results are normal.