Synchronization analysis between heart rate variability and EEG activity before, during, and after epileptic seizure

An innovative concept for synchronization analysis between heart rate (HR) components and rhythms in EEG envelopes is represented; it applies time-variant analyses to heart rate variability (HRV) and EEG, and it was tested in children with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). After a removal of ocular and movement-related artifacts, EEG band activity was computed by means of the frequency-selective Hilbert transform providing envelopes of frequency bands. Synchronization between HRV and EEG envelopes was quantified by Morlet wavelet coherence. A surrogate data approach was adapted to test for statistical significance of time-variant coherences. Using this processing scheme, significant coherence values between a HRV low-frequency sub-band (0.08-0.12 Hz) and the EEG δ envelope (1.5-4 Hz) occurring both in the preictal and early postictal periods of a seizure can be shown. Investigations were performed for all electrodes at 20-s intervals and for selected electrode pairs (T3÷C3, T4÷C4) in a time-variant mode. Synchronization was more pronounced in the group of right hemispheric TLE patients than in the left hemispheric group. Such a group-specific augmentation of synchronization confirms the hypothesis of a right hemispheric lateralization of sympathetic cardiac control of the low-frequency HRV components.