Abstract
Near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) is a noninvasive neuroimaging technique that is
highly suitable for pediatric populations due to its many advantages. In past decades,
research on clinical applications and technical development of NIRS software and equipment
has significantly increased, leading to greater use in children with epilepsy, especially
for presurgical assessment. In this review, the NIRS signal and data acquisition are
first described. Then, clinical applications in pediatric epilepsy, including the
characterization and prediction of seizures, presurgical language mapping and epileptogenic
zone localization, and detection of postsurgical cerebral reorganization are presented.
Advantages and limitations of using NIRS in children with epilepsy are also discussed.
Finally, potential developments and research applications for NIRS in the pediatric
population with epilepsy are proposed.
Keywords
Near infrared spectroscopy - children - epilepsy - presurgical assessment - language
mapping - epileptic focus localization - noninvasive neuroimaging
