Volumetric magnetic resonance imaging differences between complex febrile seizure and recurrent simple febrile seizure

Purpose

We investigated the volumetric differences in cortical and subcortical structures between patients with complex febrile seizure (FS) and recurrent simple FS. We aimed to identify the brain morphological patterns of children with complex FS.

Methods

Twenty-five patients with complex FS and age- and sex-matched 25 patients with recurrent simple FS with structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans were studied. Cortical volumetric analysis was performed using a voxel-based morphometry method with the CAT12 toolbox within SPM12. FSL-FIRST was used to obtain volume measures of subcortical deep grey matter structures (amygdala, caudate nucleus, thalamus, nucleus accumbens, putamen, globus pallidus, and hippocampus). The volumetric asymmetry index (AI) and laterality index (LI) were calculated for each subcortical structure.

Results

Compared with recurrent simple FS, complex FS demonstrated lower volume in the left putamen (p = .003) and right nucleus accumbens (p = .001). Additionally, patients with complex FS presented a higher magnitude of AI of the nucleus accumbens (p < .001) compared with recurrent simple FS.

Conclusions

The findings indicate that volumetric analysis may be a useful marker for the detection of FS-induced changes that reflect microstructural alterations. This study is the first to report on alterations in the putamen and nucleus accumbens in FS.