Brain Network Organization in Focal Epilepsy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

ABSTRACT: Normal brain functioning is presumed to depend upon interacting regions within large-scale neuronal networks. Increasing evidence exists that interictal network alterations in focal epilepsy are associated with cognitive and behavioral deficits. Nevertheless, the reported network alterations are inconclusive and prone to low statistical power due to small sample sizes as well as modest effect sizes. We therefore systematically reviewed the existing literature and conducted a meta-analysis to characterize the changes in whole-brain interictal focal epilepsy networks at sufficient power levels. We focused on the two most commonly used metrics in whole-brain networks: average path length and average clustering coefficient. Twelve studies were included that reported whole-brain network average

SUBMITTER: van Diessen E 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4262431 | biostudies-literature | 2014

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature