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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2012 Sep 1.
Published in final edited form as: Neurol Clin. 2011 Nov;29(4):801–823. doi: 10.1016/j.ncl.2011.07.014

Fig. 3.

Fig. 3

fMRI changes during a typical absence seizure involve the consciousness system and primary cortices. Blood oxygen level dependent (BOLD) fMRI changes are shown from a 12-second seizure in a 14-year-old girl with childhood absence epilepsy (EEG for this seizure is shown in Fig. 2A). The consciousness system demonstrates BOLD fMRI increases in the thalamus, decreases in the interhemispheric regions (anterior cingulate, precuneus), decreases in the lateral parietal cortex, and increases in the lateral frontal cortex. In addition, fMRI increases are present in the primary cortices including the primary visual (occipital), primary auditory (superior temporal), and primary sensorimotor (Rolandic) cortex. fMRI decreases are also seen in the pons, basal ganglia, and cerebellum. Results were analyzed in SPM2 (http://www.fil.ion.ucl.ac.uk/SPM) using a t-test to compare seizure versus baseline with uncorrected height threshold (P = .001) and extent threshold (k = 3 voxels). (Unpublished data Courtesy of R. Berman).