AUTHOR=Neal Elliot G. , Schimmel Samantha , George Zeegan , Monsour Molly , Alayli Adam , Lockard Gavin , Piper Keaton , Maciver Stephanie , Vale Fernando L. , Bezchlibnyk Yarema B. TITLE=No change in network connectivity measurements between separate rsfMRI acquisition times JOURNAL=Frontiers in Network Physiology VOLUME=4 YEAR=2024 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/network-physiology/articles/10.3389/fnetp.2024.1342161 DOI=10.3389/fnetp.2024.1342161 ISSN=2674-0109 ABSTRACT=

The role of resting state functional MRI (rsfMRI) is increasing in the field of epilepsy surgery because it is possible to interpolate network connectivity patterns across the brain with a high degree of spatial resolution. Prior studies have shown that by rsfMRI with scalp electroencephalography (EEG), an epileptogenic network can be modeled and visualized with characteristic patterns of connectivity that are relevant to both seizure-related and neuropsychological outcomes after surgery. The aim of this study is to show that a 5-min acquisition time provides reproducible results related to the relevant connectivity metrics when compared to a separately acquired 5-min scan. Fourteen separate rsfMRI sessions from ten different patients were used for comparison, comprised of patients with temporal lobe epilepsy both pre- and post-operation. Results showed that there was no significant difference in any of the connectivity metrics when comparing both 5-min scans to each other. These data support the continued use of a 5-min scan for epileptogenic network modeling in future studies because the inter-scan variability is sufficiently low as not to alter the output metrics characterizing the network connectivity.