Functional brain connectivity in electrical status epilepticus in sleep.

Electrical status epilepticus in sleep (ESES) is an age-related, self-limited epileptic encephalopathy. The syndrome is characterized by cognitive and behavioral abnormalities and a specific EEG pattern of continuous spikes and waves during slow-wave sleep. While spikes and sharp waves are known to result in transient cognitive impairment during learning and memory tasks performed during the waking state, the effect of epileptiform discharges during sleep on cognition and behavior is unclear. There is increasing evidence that abnormalities of coherence, a measure of the consistency of the phase difference between two EEG signals when compared over time, is an important feature of brain oscillations and plays a role in cognition and behavior. The objective of this study was to determine whether coherence of EEG activity is altered during slow-wave sleep in children with ESES when compared to typically developing children. We examined coherence during epochs of ESES versus epochs when ESES was not present. In addition, we compared coherence during slow-wave sleep between typically developing children and children with ESES. ESES was associated with remarkably high coherences at all bandwidths and most electrode pairs. While the high coherence was largely attributed to the spikes and spike-and-wave discharge, activity between spikes and spike-and-wave discharge also demonstrated high coherence. This study indicates that EEG coherence during ESES is relatively high. Whether these increases in coherence correlate with the cognitive and behavioral abnormalities seen in children with this EEG pattern remains to be determined.

Brain connectivity in West syndrome.

PURPOSE: Hypsarrhythmia, the pathognomonic EEG pattern of West syndrome, is typically characterized by a high amplitude, arrhythmic, and asynchronous pattern. While this severely aberrant pattern would suggest severe abnormalities in connectivity, coherence has not yet been systematically assessed in hypsarrhythmia. METHODS: We evaluated the EEGs of 28 infants, 12 with infantile spasms with hypsarrhythmia and 16 similarly age control infants for coherence and spectral power. RESULTS: Children with infantile spasms and hypsarrhythmia EEGs had marked abnormalities in coherence and spectral power compared to normal children of similar ages. During sleep increases in delta, theta, alpha and beta coherences were seen, particularly at long inter-electrode distances while at short inter-electrode distances coherences were decreased in the theta and beta range, particularly in the frontal region. The enhanced coherences at long inter-electrode distances suggest that during sleep in children with infantile spasms widely spread cortical region do not have functional differentiation whereas in the frontal lobe there is reduced functional connectivity and integration of local cortical regions. Children with continued seizures and developmental delay showed persistent abnormalities in coherence. CONCLUSION: This study demonstrates that hypsarrhythmic EEGs have marked abnormalities in coherence spectral power and such abnormalities may be related to cognitive impairment.