In 18 of 30 SEEG patients, SOZ pairs joined more interictal events but did not cross threshold first (OpenNeuro ds003876, first 180 s; AUC 0.51, p = 0.95)

We tested a pre-registered hypothesis that bipolar pairs in the clinical seizure-onset zone (SOZ) cross spike-detection thresholds earlier than non-SOZ pairs in the same multi-channel interictal spike event. We analyzed up to 180 s from 30 SEEG patients in OpenNeuro ds003876 v1.0.2. Spikes were detected at 10–55 Hz using a 6 robust-SD threshold, with peaks at least 250 ms apart. Events grouped detections within 100 ms and required at least 3 pairs. Eighteen patients met the inclusion rule, contributing 2,985 events. The primary per-patient AUC for SOZ pairs having an earlier mean rank was 0.509 (median 0.500; bootstrap 95% CI 0.399–0.615; 9/18 patients above 0.5; Wilcoxon p = 0.95; Holm p = 1.0). After adjustment for participation and amplitude, the mean AUC was 0.506 (median 0.529; 95% CI 0.406–0.602; 10/18 above 0.5; p = 0.95; Holm p = 1.0). In a reference test, SOZ pairs participated in more events (AUC 0.756; 16/18 above 0.5; Wilcoxon p = 0.0016). In this dataset, spike participation distinguished SOZ pairs, but threshold-crossing order did not. The test used 180 s or less per patient, a 100 ms event window, clinical SOZ labels without surgical outcomes, and onset times that depend on local amplitude and noise. With 18 patients, power for small effects was low (mean AUC below about 0.6).

stereo-EEG · interictal spikes · seizure-onset zone · threshold crossing · event rank · epilepsy · AUC · pre-registration