• Sharon Chiang, John M Stern, Jerome Engel, Harvey S Levin, and Zulfi Haneef.
• Department of Statistics, Rice University, Houston, TX, USA.
• Epilepsy Res. 2014 Dec 1; 108 (10): 1770-81.

PurposeTo investigate lateralized differences in limbic system functional connectivity between left and right temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) using graph theory.MethodsInterictal resting state fMRI was performed in 14 left TLE patients, 11 right TLE patients, and 12 controls. Graph theory analysis of 10 bilateral limbic regions of interest was conducted. Changes in edgewise functional connectivity, network topology, and regional topology were quantified, and then left and right TLE were compared.ResultsLimbic edgewise functional connectivity was predominantly reduced in both left and right TLE. More regional connections were reduced in right TLE, most prominently involving reduced interhemispheric connectivity between the bilateral insula and bilateral hippocampi. A smaller number of limbic connections were increased in TLE, more so in left than in right TLE. Topologically, the most pronounced change was a reduction in average network betweenness centrality and concurrent increase in left hippocampal betweenness centrality in right TLE. In contrast, left TLE exhibited a weak trend toward increased right hippocampal betweenness centrality, with no change in average network betweenness centrality.ConclusionLimbic functional connectivity is predominantly reduced in both left and right TLE, with more pronounced reductions in right TLE. In contrast, left TLE exhibits both edgewise and topological changes that suggest a tendency toward reorganization. Network changes in TLE and lateralized differences thereof may have important diagnostic and prognostic implications.Published by Elsevier B.V.

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