Dynamic tractography-based localization of spike sources and animation of spike propagations

Abstract

Objective: This study was undertaken to build and validate a novel dynamic tractography-based model for localizing interictal spike sources and visualizing monosynaptic spike propagations through the white matter. Methods: This cross-sectional study investigated 1900 spike events recorded in 19 patients with drug-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) who underwent extraoperative intracranial electroencephalography (iEEG) and resective surgery. Twelve patients had mesial TLE (mTLE) without a magnetic resonance imaging-visible mass lesion. The remaining seven had a mass lesion in the temporal lobe neocortex. We identified the leading and lagging sites, defined as those initially and subsequently (but within ≤50 ms) showing spike-related augmentation of broadband iEEG activity. In each patient, we estimated the sources of 100 spike discharges using the latencies at given electrode sites and diffusion-weighted imaging-based streamline length measures. We determined whether the spatial relationship between the estimated spike sources and resection was associated with postoperative seizure outcomes. We generated videos presenting the spatiotemporal change of spike-related fiber activation sites by estimating the propagation velocity using the streamline length and spike latency measures. Results: The spike propagation velocity from the source was 1.03 mm/ms on average (95% confidence interval =.91–1.15) across 133 tracts noted in the 19 patients. The estimated spike sources in mTLE patients with International League Against Epilepsy Class 1 outcome were more likely to be in the resected area (83.9% vs. 72.3%, φ =.137, p