Evaluation of thalamic volume in patients diagnosed with ESES using the MRI-Cloud method

Abstract

Abstract Purpose Benign epilepsy with centrotemporal spikes (BECTS) is one of the most common epilepsy syndromes in childhood. Accordingly, the main aim of this study was to investigate brain anatomical differences in patients with BECTS using MRI-Cloud, a more objective and quantitative evaluation method for the first time in the literature. Methods We included 27 patients diagnosed with BECTS and 27 healthy subjects in the study. We analysed magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans of patients diagnosed with BECTS for the first time via the "MRI-Cloud" method. Results The mean age of the 54 patients in our study was 8.0 (4–14) years for patients with BECTS, 7.75 (5–14) years for patients with ESES and 8.0 (4–14) years for the control group. Total relative thalamic volume was significantly lower in patients with ESES than in healthy controls (2045.57 ± 343.84 vs. 8775.85 ± 3687.58, p < 0.001), and the total relative thalamic volume was significantly lower in patients with ESES than in patients with BECTS without ESES (2045.57 ± 343.84 vs. 7829.60 ± 3152.85, p < 0.001). The thalamus volumes in patients with ESES were significantly lower than those in patients with BECTS without ESES (right thalamus: 1028 ± 260 vs. 3844 ± 1572, p < 0.001; left thalamus: 1017 ± 150 vs. 3985 ± 2135, p < 0.001). Conclusion In this study, we emphasize the contribution of volume analysis and the MRI-Cloud method for detecting microstructural changes at the thalamic level in ESES patients even when conventional MRI findings are normal.