Quantitative Imaging of Cortical Abnormalities in Extratemporal Epilepsy

Heath Richard Pardoe¹, Graeme D. Jackson^1,2

In this study software-based analysis of structural MRI was used to map the thickness of the cortex in extratemporal epilepsy subjects with radiologically observable lesions. The technique was used to identify cortical abnormalities in the epilepsy patients. Non-rigid registration of the patient group and an age-matched group of controls to a custom template allowed voxel-wise comparison of the cortical thickness in each epilepsy subject with the control group using a standard score. Thresholds for the objective identification of cortical abnormalities were empirically determined by investigating the relationship between standard score and number of voxels exterior to manually delineated lesions.