Neuroimaging ed encefalopatie epilettiche

Neuropathological studies have shown that often children with epileptic encephalopathies do not present structural abnormalities: because of that it can be useful to study epileptic encephalopathies with functional neuroimaging, in order to discover cerebral metabolic anomalies associated to epileptic discharges and neuropsychological deficits. The important development of functional neuroimaging has dramatically improved the study of childhood epilepsy, in particular concerning the seizure focus localization. Finding a correlation among metabolic, electrophysiological and neuropsychological deficits could allow a more precise definition of seizures onset area. This article is a review of literature concerning the utilization of functional neuroimaging in epileptic encephalopathies, including: Rolandic Epilepsy and related Syndromes (Landau Kleffner Syndrome, Continuous Spike-and-Wave in Slow Sleep Syndrome), West Syndrome, Lennox Gastaut Syndrome. In general, there is a good correlation among cerebral metabolic abnormalities shown by neuroimaging, neuropsychological deficits and EEG anomalies localization. We conclude that continuing on studying techniques of functional neuroimaging will provide more information about discharges focus and help in pre-surgical assessment. In addition, it may contribute to map cerebral neurotrasmittor circuits.