Cortical atrophy before and after surgery map to distinct brain networks in temporal lobe epilepsy

COEX 

Surgery is the most effective treatment to control seizures in pharmaco-resistant temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) [1-3]. Although this approach focuses on the hippocampus and nearby temporal lobe structures, most patients also show widespread cortical atrophy beyond this disease epicenter. How these alterations elsewhere in the brain are affected by a surgical lesion, however, remains a debate. Here, we assessed whether functional connectivity from surgical lesion locations map to brain networks that are associated with cortical atrophy before and after surgery.