Functional imaging of the brain in epilepsy

In the evaluation of patients with seizure disorders, the integration of structural and functional data is key to the successful formulation of the epilepsy syndrome, and the localization of seizure onset and its aetiology, Current MRI reveals the structural cerebral basis of refractory partial seizures in up to 80% of patients referred for consideration of surgical treatment. The remainder are cryptogenic and it is in this group that functional imaging techniques may be particularly clinically useful. The author discusses the application of positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computerised tomography (SPECT), functional MRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopy