Resting-state fMRI in temporal lobe epilepsy patients with cognitive impairment A protocol for systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: Temporal lobe epilepsy is a group of neurological diseases caused by the repeated abnormal discharge of brain neurons. Patients with this disease are often accompanied with cognitive impairment. However, the pathogenesis of the cognitive impairment remains unclear. Resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging is a kind of magnetic resonance imaging method based on blood oxygen level dependence. This can reflect the spontaneous brain functional activity of a human brain in the resting state. In recent years, a number of researchers have used resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging to study the changes in resting spontaneous brain function in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy with cognitive impairment (TLE-CI). However, due to the differences in sample and methodology, the results of these studies were inconsistent. Therefore, the present study aimed to investigate the characteristics of the resting spontaneous brain function in patients with TLE-CI through a meta-analysis. Methods: A search was conducted on electronic databases, including PubMed, Cochrane Library, EMBASE, Web of Science, China National Knowledge Infrastructure, WANGFANG DATA and Chinese Biomedical Literature Database, and Baidu scholar Database, from the establishment of the database to April 20, 2021. Randomized controlled trials that employed amplitude of low-frequency fluctuations/regional homogeneity to investigate the changes in resting spontaneous brain function in patients with TLE-CI were selected. Anisotropic effect size version of signed differential mapping was applied to perform the data analysis. Results: The study summarized the changes in spontaneous brain function in patients with TLE-CI. Conclusion: The conclusion for the functional cerebral alterations based on the latest studies will be provided.