Quantitative characteristics of spike-wave paroxysms in genetic generalized epilepsy

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articleResearchpeer-review

  • Ivan C. Zibrandtsen
  • Jonas M. Nielsen
  • Troels W. Kjaer

Objective: To characterize generalized spike-wave paroxysms (GSW) in children with generalized genetic epilepsy (GGE). Methods: We annotated 15–19 channel scalp EEGs from a retrospective cohort from patients with a variety of GGE syndromes. Connectivity, entropy, frequency, power, spike-amplitudes were compared with a normal baseline activity and analyzed for the effect of age and sex. Cluster analysis was used to group spike-topographies between patients. Results: In total, 864 GSWs from 100 patients aged 2–18 were analyzed. Age had a significant effect on peak frequency, entropy and connectivity. Female sex was associated with significantly higher probability of positive responsiveness to photic stimulation (OR 4.28, CI [1.65, 11.73], p = 0.0036). Entropy decreases significantly during GSW (D = −0.29, CI [−0.31, −0.27], p ≪ 0.0001) and connectivity significantly increases (D = 0.39, CI [0.36, 0.40], p ≪ 0.0001). Within patient spike-voltage maps exhibit remarkable consistency between spikes. Spike-topographies cluster together to predict age, connectivity and entropy. Conclusions: A quantitative characterization is possible and reveals significant relationships between age, sex and spike characteristics and multidimensional EEG features. Significance: Quantitative GSW characterization can capture aspects from traditional qualitative GSW analysis while being unaffected by intra- and interrater variation and this may be useful for multidimensional predictors of patient outcomes in GGE in the future.

Original languageEnglish
JournalClinical Neurophysiology
Volume131
Issue number6
Pages (from-to)1230-1240
ISSN1388-2457
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2020

    Research areas

  • Absence, Connectivity, Entropy, Epilepsy, Spike-wave-complexes, Time-frequency analysis

ID: 242410964