Epileptogenicity of brain structures in human temporal lobe epilepsy: a quantified study from intracerebral EEG

The identification of brain regions generating seizures ('epileptogenic zone', EZ) in patients with refractory partial epilepsy is crucial prior to surgery. During pre-surgical evaluation, this identification can be performed from the analysis of intracerebral EEG. In particular, the presence of high-frequency oscillations, often referred to as 'rapid discharges', has long been recognized as a characteristic electrophysiological pattern of the EZ. However, to date, there has been no attempt to make use of this specific pattern to quantitatively evaluate the degree of epileptogenicity in recorded structures. A novel quantitative measure that characterizes the epileptogenicity of brain structures recorded with…