Periventricular [(11)C]flumazenil Binding for Predicting Postoperative Outcome in Individual Patients with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy and Hippocampal Sclerosis

A third of patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy and hippocampal sclerosis (HS) are not seizure free (NSF) after surgery. Increased periventricular [(11)C]flumazenil (FMZ) binding, reflecting heterotopic neuron concentration, has been described as one predictor of NSF outcome at the group level. We aimed to replicate this finding in an independent larger cohort and investigated whether NSF outcome can be predicted in individuals. Preoperative [(11)C]FMZ summed radioactivity images were available for 16 patients with HS and 41 controls. Images were analyzed using SPM8, explicitly including the white matter, and correction for global radioactivity via group-specific ANCOVA. Periventricular increases were assessed with a mask and different cutoffs for distinguishing NSF and seizure free (SF) patients. NSF patients had increased [(11)C]FMZ binding around the posterior horn of the ventricles ipsilaterally (z = 2.53) and contralaterally (z = 4.44) to the seizure focus compared with SF patients. Compared with controls, SF patients had fewer periventricular increases (two clusters, total volume 0.87 cm(3), zmax = 3.8) than NSF patients (two ipsilateral and three contralateral clusters, 6.15 cm(3), zmax = 4.8). In individuals and at optimized cutoffs, five (63%) of eight NSF patients and one (13%) of eight SF patients showed periventricular increases compared with controls (accuracy 75%). Only one (2%) of the 41 controls had increases at the same cutoff. The association between periventricular [(11)C]FMZ increases and NSF outcome after temporal lobe resection for HS has been confirmed in an independent cohort on simple summed activity images. [(11)C]FMZ-PET may be useful for individual preoperative counseling with clinically relevant accuracy.