Objectives: To investigate the role of brain functional connectivity and nonlinear dynamic analysis in brain function assessment for infants with controlled infantile spasm (IS).
Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 14 children with controlled IS (IS group) who were admitted to the Department of Neurology, Anhui Provincial Children's Hospital, from January 2019 to January 2023. Twelve healthy children, matched for sex and age, were enrolled as the control group. Electroencephalogram (EEG) data were analyzed for both groups to compare the features of brain network, and nonlinear dynamic indicators were calculated, including approximate entropy, sample entropy, permutation entropy, and permutation Lempel-Ziv complexity.
Results: Brain functional connectivity showed that compared with the control group, the IS group had an increase in the strength of functional connectivity, and there was a significant difference between the two groups in the connection strength between the Fp2 and F8 channels (P<0.05). The network stability analysis showed that the IS group had a significantly higher network stability than the control group at different time windows (P<0.05). The nonlinear dynamic analysis showed that compared with the control group, the IS group had a significantly lower sample entropy of Fz electrode (P<0.05).
Conclusions: Abnormalities in brain network and sample entropy may be observed in some children with controlled IS, and it is suggested that quantitative EEG analysis parameters can serve as neurological biomarkers for evaluating brain function in children with IS.
目的: 探讨脑功能连接及非线性动力学分析在发作控制的婴儿痉挛症（infantile spasm, IS）患儿脑功能评估中的作用。方法: 回顾性选择2019年1月—2023年1月安徽省儿童医院神经科就诊且发作控制的14例IS患儿为IS组，选择同期性别、年龄匹配的12例健康体检儿童为健康对照组。分析2组患儿的脑电图数据，比较其脑网络特征，同时计算非线性动力学指标，包括近似熵、样本熵、排列熵、LZ复杂度。结果: 功能连接显示，与健康对照组比较，IS组网络连接强度增大，其中Fp2与F8两通道之间的连接强度组间比较差异有统计学意义（P<0.05）。网络稳定性分析发现，在不同长度时间窗口下，IS组网络稳定性均高于健康对照组（P<0.05）。非线性动力学分析显示，IS组Fz电极上样本熵小于健康对照组（P<0.05）。结论: 少数预后良好的IS患儿仍存在脑网络及样本熵异常，推测脑电定量分析指标可成为评价IS患儿脑功能状态的神经生物学标志物。.
Keywords: Child; Electroencephalography; Epileptic spasm; Functional connectivity; Infantile spasm; Nonlinear dynamics.