A novel ensemble deep learning neural network of multi-scale deep MRI features to localize the epileptogenic zone in pediatric epilepsy

We present a novel ensemble deep learning neural network of multi-scale deep MRI features that can non-invasively localize the epileptogenic zone (EZ) partially overlapping seizure onset zone (SOZ) and irritative zone (IZ) in children with medically intractable epilepsy. The presented network provided high balanced accuracy of 90% to predict SOZ and IZ in 3-fold cross-validation. It also yielded a new MRI marker of epileptogenicity providing a huge effect size between the ground-truth EZ and non-EZ (i.e., Cohen’s d = 2.73), suggesting its high translational value for accurately guiding invasive EEG practice to determine the boundaries of the EZ sites