Penalized Functional Connectivity Maps for Patients With Focal Epilepsy

Objective: This study demonstrates how functional connectivity (FC) patterns are affected in direct relation to the lobe that is mostly affected by seizures. Methods: The novel idea of penalized FC (pFC) maps is compared against standard FC maps in the four fundamental EEG frequency sub-bands. The FC measure between any two specific electrodes is scaled depending on the probability of true FC between them, and their power content with respect to the two electrodes of maximum power within each frequency sub-band. The algorithm is automated and introduces adaptive power penalization based on the power distribution of the different sub-bands. Results: The pFC maps were found to be more effective at suppressing the local connectivity in the lobes that are less affected by the interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs). More precisely, given the least amount of power penalization, pFC maps of the theta sub-band reveal statistical significance in terms of increased local connectivity margin of the affected region as compared to the standard FC maps. However, they cannot be solely relied upon as other sub-bands could alternatively show high local connectivity across different patients within the region of interest. Conclusion: penalized functional connectivity maps intrinsically provide more information regarding the whole brain network in context to regions of interest where the active lobe is determined by the neurologists to contain the focal source. Significance: Findings suggest that (1) the significant sub-band varies from patient to patient while remaining relatively consistent within the IED segments of a same patient, and (2) the pFC maps have an advanced capability in terms of pinpointing to a region of interest of the active lobe, and as such can play a critical role in providing insight as to a region of interest where the 3D source might be located when solving the ill-posed inverse problem.