Department of Neurology, University of Utah, Clinical Neuroscience Center, George E. Wahlen VA Medical Center, Salt Lake City, UT, USA. Electronic address: [Email]
This study looks for differences in the waveforms of interictal epileptiform discharges (IEDs) between cortices expressing only isolated discharges (green-spikes zones) vs those manifesting seizures (red-spikes zones): these can help to understand ictogenesis mechanisms and improve clinical decision in surgical epilepsy. Typical IEDs are triphasic, exhibiting in sequence: a negative-sharp-wave, a positive-baseline-shift and a negative-slow-wave. Negative-slow-waves are thought to reflect neurophysiological inhibition: their features at a focus' edge may reflect peripheral inhibition, a mechanism characterized in experimental models, curbing seizures' spread. This might be weakened in red-spikes.