Analysis of brain network characteristics and ACTH efficacy in children with infantile spasms
Objective To discuss the characteristics of brain networks in children with infantile spasms and their correlation with the efficacy of adrenocorticotropic hormone treatment.Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted on the clinical data of 20 children,who were diagnosed with infantile spasms and treated with adrenocorticotropic hormone at Anhui Children's Hospital between December 2018 and August 2022(infantile spasms group).Additionally,20 healthy children from the same period were included as a control group.Electroencepha-lography data from both groups were analyzed,their brain network properties were compared and adrenocorticotropic hormone prognosis-related analysis was conducted.Results In the sigma frequency band,the characteristic path length in the infantile spasms group was lower than that in the control group,global efficiency was higher,and transitivity was lower,all showing statistically significant differences(P<0.05).The betweenness centrality of the Pz electrode in the infantile spasms group was lower than that of the control group in the alpha and sigma fre-quency bands,with statistically significant intergroup differences(P<0.05).Further analysis revealed that the higher characteristic path length and lower global efficiency in the sigma frequency band were associated with better short-term efficacy of adrenocorticotropic hormone.Con-clusion Children with infantile spasms exhibit abnormal brain network properties.The characteristic path length and global efficiency may serve as neurobiological markers for evaluating the efficacy of adrenocorticotropic hormone in children with infantile spasms.