In clinical practice language impairment is frequently reported in association with nocturnal epileptiform activity. There is a spectrum of epileptic conditions that are characterized by nocturnal epileptiform activity. From mild to severe this spectrum involves: Rolandic epilepsy (RE), nocturnal frontal lobe epilepsy (NFLE), Landau-Kleffner syndrome (LKS) and electrical status epilepticus during slow wave sleep (ESES). The exact characteristic of the relationship between nocturnal epileptiform activity and language impairment is yet to be explored. The investigators suggest that nocturnal epileptiform EEG discharges and nocturnal epileptic seizures during development will cause diseased neuronal networks that involve language. The diseased neuronal networks are less efficient compared with normal neuronal networks. Objective: Identification of a diseased neuronal network characteristic in children with nocturnal epileptiform activity, which can explain language impairment in these children. For this the investigators will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to analyse brain activity and diffusion weighted MRI to investigate white matter connectivity.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
47
Epilepsiecentrum Kempenhaeghe
Heeze, North Brabant, Netherlands
Mechanism that causes language problems in childhood epilepsy
Morphological, anatomical or functional correlate that can explain the comorbidity of language problems in childhood epilepsy. In Rolandic epilepsy, e.g., the epileptic focus is in the brain motor strip, and from classical anatomy no connection is known from the motor strip to the language areas. Think of deviations in the brain such as cortical thinning in both regions or aberrant functional or anatomical networks linking both regions.
Time frame: course of study
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