Early onset of cortical thinning in children with rolandic epilepsy

AbstractIntroductionRolandic epilepsy, a childhood epilepsy associated with language impairments, was investigated for language-related cortical abnormalities.MethodsTwenty-four children with rolandic epilepsy and 24 controls (age 8–14years) were recruited and underwent the Clinical Evaluation of Language Fundamentals test. Structural MRI was performed at 3T (voxel size 1×1×1mm3) for fully automated quantitative assessment of cortical thickness. Regression analysis was used to test for differences between patients and controls and to assess the effect of age and language indices on cortical thickness.ResultsFor patients the core language score (mean±SD: 92±18) was lower than for controls (106±11, p=0.0026) and below the norm of 100±15 (p=0.047). Patients showed specific impairments in receptive language index (87±19, p=0.002) and language content index (87±18, p=0.0016). Cortical thickness was reduced in patients (p