A complex systems approach to epilepsy : concept, practice and therapy / edited by Rodney C. Scott, J. Matthew Mahoney.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Introduction -- Systems biology approaches to the genetic complexity of epilepsy -- Transcriptomic and epigenomic approaches for epilepsy -- Phenomenological mesoscopic models for seizure activity -- Personalized network modeling in epilepsy -- The baseline and epileptiform EEG : a complex systems approach -- Neuronal approaches to epilepsy -- Mapping epileptic networks with scalp and invasive EEG : applications to epileptogenic zone localization and seizure prediction -- A neuroimaging network-level approach to drug-resistant epilepsy -- Epilepsy as a complex network disorder: insights from functional MRI.

The epilepsies are devastating neurological disorders for which progress developing effective new therapies has slowed over recent decades, primarily due to the complexity of the brain at all scales. This reality has shifted the focus of experimental and clinical practice toward complex systems approaches to overcoming current barriers. Organized by scale from genes to whole brain, the chapters of this book survey the theoretical underpinnings and use of network and dynamical systems approaches to interpreting and modeling experimental and clinical data in epilepsy. The emphasis throughout is on the value of the non-trivial, and often counterintuitive, properties of complex systems, and how to leverage these properties to elaborate mechanisms of epilepsy and develop new therapies. In this essential book, readers will learn key concepts of complex systems theory applied across multiple scales and how each of these scales connects to epilepsy.