Andrea McKavanagh

University of Liverpool | UoL · Institute of Translational Medicine

Background: Previous neuroimaging studies reported functional and structural impairments of the upper basal ganglia (specifically, the striatum) in idiopathic generalised epilepsy (IGE). However, these studies often overlook lower basal ganglia structures located in and adjacent to the midbrain due to poor contrast on clinically acquired volumetric...

Background: Idiopathic generalised epilepsy (IGE) is a collection of generalised non-lesional epileptic network disorders. Around 20-40% of patients with IGE are refractory to anti-seizure medication and mechanisms underlying refractoriness are poorly understood. Here, we characterise structural brain network alterations and determine whether netw...

Despite an increasing number of drug treatment options for people with idiopathic generalized epilepsy (IGE), drug resistance remains a significant issue and the mechanisms underlying it remain poorly understood. Previous studies have largely focused on potential cellular or genetic explanations for drug resistance. However, epilepsy is understood...

Despite an expanding literature on brain alterations in patients with longstanding epilepsy, few neuroimaging studies investigate patients with newly diagnosed focal epilepsy (NDfE). Understanding brain network impairments at diagnosis is necessary to elucidate whether or not brain abnormalities are principally due to the chronicity of the disorder...

Study objectives: To identify structural network changes in patients with non-lesional newly diagnosed focal epilepsy (NDfE) and determine the relationship to seizure outcomes two years after diagnosis. Methods: • Participants 29 controls and 27 patients with NDfE • MRI acquisition T1-/T2-weighted (T1w/T2w) MRI; 60-dir multi-shell dMRI MRI analysi...