Maarten
Vaessen1,2, Jaap Jansen3, Paul Hofman, Marielle
Vlooswijk, Henriette Majoie, Mark de Krom, Albert Aldenkamp1,2,
Walter Backes
1School for Mental Health and
Neuroscience , Maastricht University Medical Centre, Maastricht, Limburg,
Netherlands; 2Kempenhaeghe Epilepsy Institute, Heeze, Netherlands;
3Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, United
States
Patients
with chronic epilepsy commonly develop cognitive co-morbidity. Previously, it
was observed that their declined cognitive performance was associated with
loss of functional connectivity derived from functional MRI of memory and
language tasks. In this study we aimed to identify impaired structural
connections, obtained with fibre tractography, between brain regions commonly
associated with language and memory function. We found that fiber connections
between the left and right frontal lobe were significantly reduced in these
patients and were correlated with IQ.