Complex brain network of patients with epilespy using cascading failure analysis of fMRI data

In this study, we investigated the human brain functional network of patients with epilepsy by using the resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and complex network theory. Adjacency matrices of the networks of patient group and normal control group were constructed by the method of Pearson correlation coefficient. And then adopted a new cascading failure model with adjustable parameter to analyze the effectiveness of the two kinds of attack strategies(attack the nodes with big degree and small degree respectively) under the new index CFattack which can measure the robustness of the network. The result showed that Compared with normal control group, the brain function network of patient group is more easily lead to failure in attack nodes with big degrees. Attack the nodes with small degrees, the network are more robust.The result conformed to the condition of model parameter α>0.5. Results indicated that the feature is consistent with the synchronization of brain function network of patients with epilepsy. In order to prevent other disorders caused by cascading failure, we should focus on the protection to the thalamus, lentiform nucleus and lenticular pallidum.