ABSTRACT

Corpus callosum (CC) is the largest commissural pathway that connects cerebral hemispheres. Structural changes have been reported in epilepsy. Therefore, in this study, the relationship between CC structure and blood parameters was evaluated in patients with epilepsy treated with monotherapy.

In this study, 50 primary epilepsy patients treated with monotherapy and 40 healthy controls were included. Age, sex, antiepileptic drugs, duration of disease, type and frequency of seizures were questioned. Genu, truncus, splenium and anterior-posterior diameter of CC were measured in the TSE/T1 sagittal sequence of brain magnetic resonance imaging. The relationship between blood parameters, antiepileptic treatment and disease characteristics were evaluated.

Fifty patients (26 females, 24 males) were included in this study. The mean age was 34.46±13.02 years. Morphometric measurements of CC were genu was 11.12±1.69, truncus was 6.09±1.17, splenium was 10.39±1.93 and anterior-posterior was 69.08±5.19 millimeter (mm). Anterior-posterior diameter was smaller in patients with epilepsy (p=0.04). Female patients with epilepsy had smaller genu diameter (p=0.01). Splenium diameter was smaller in patients with longer disease duration (p=0.04). There was no difference between antiepileptic drug use and morphometric measurements (p>0.05). Urea and creatinine levels were higher in patients with epilepsy (p=0.00, 0.00). Vitamin D and ferritin levels were lower (p=0.01, 0.01). There was no correlation between blood values and morphometric measurements (p>0.05, r<0.25).

Anterior-posterior diameter of CC is smaller in epilepsy. Especially in female patients, genu diameter is smaller. Splenium diameter is smaller in patients with a long duration of epilepsy. There is no correlation between blood parameters and CC diameters.

Keywords: Epilepsy, blood parameters, corpus callosum, morphometry