FMRI correlates of pathologically changed alpha rhythm in patients with hepatic encephalopathy

Objective: The simultaneous combination of EEG and fMRI has recently been shown to be capable of providing maps which are functionally related to the classical posterior alpha rhythm in healthy subjects (Laufs et al. 2003). It has been reported (Kullmann et al. 2001) that patients with hepatic encephalopathy have altered topoography of EEG background rhythms. Here we investigate fMRI correlates of pathologically changed alpha activity in ten patients (mean age 47 years, range 39–53) with hepatic encephalopathy. Methods: Patients were lying in the dark bore of a 1.5 T MR tomograph. EEG was recorded from 29 scalp…