Non-invasive mapping of epileptic foci
Level - UndergradPresently half of the people with epilepsy suffer from intractable seizures which can only be treated with surgery. The success of the surgery highly depends on the accurate delineation of the cortex responsible for generating epileptic seizures. Since the epileptic foci or the area of the brain to be opened varies from individual to individual and often exists very close to vital brain functions, the foci must be located prior to surgery. Currently to do this, a section of the skull is removed so that subdural electrodes can be placed on the surface of the brain and intracranially for a period of two weeks to record a seizure. This method is not very precise, very invasive and problematic for the subcortical foci. Depth probes are also used but these are even more invasive. Clearly new forms of identifying the epileptic foci as well as the neighboring functional areas are badly needed.
We know from electrophysiology that when neurons fire, minute electrical currents pass along axons. There exist several ways to measure this neuronal activity non-invasively. Your job is to design a process whereby a noninvasive mapping technique can identify epileptic foci and detect metabolic abnormalities consistent with epileptogenic regions in a clinical setting. The process should approximate the reliablility and accuracy of the current intracranial electroencephalography (EEG).