BAZLİ YUSOFF, MOHD EZANE AZİZ, AİNİ ISMAFAİRUS ABD HAMİD, HUSBANİ MOHD AMİN REBUAN, MUHAMMAD RİDDHA ABDUL RAHMAN
Gazi Medical Journal - 2025;36(2):124-130
OBJECTIVE The temporal lobes are the most frequent sites of origin of partial seizures. Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) represent approximately two thirds of the intractable seizure population. This study aims to explore motor networks in TLE patients. METHODS This study involves 12 healthy subjects and 12 TLE patients who have undergone functional magnetic resonance imaging performing self-paced unilateral and bilateral finger tapping. The images were then preprocessed and analyzed using statistical parametric mapping. The activated areas were compared between healthy subjects and TLE patients. The effective connectivity for visual and motor nodes was performed using dynamic causal modelling. RESULTS Comparing the two groups, using two samples t-test, familywise error rate p<0.05. Healthy subjects showed more areas of significant activation. For effective connectivity, in healthy subjects, visual to motor was the dominant model with average value of 0.03 Hz, bilaterally. In TLE patients, on the right hemisphere, a contrary result was observed whereby the motor to visual area was the dominant pattern. On the left hemisphere, the model was the same as in healthy subjects, visual to motor, but with a higher average value of 0.1 Hz. CONCLUSION This study found that there were fewer areas of the brain with significant activation in TLE patients during motor activity. TLE brains also exhibit alteration in effective connectivity between visual and motor regions.
