title: Acquired epileptic aphasia: neuropsychologic follow-up of 12 patients.
abstract: A study of specific neuropsychologic, neurolinguistic, and behavioral features of acquired epileptic aphasia or Landau-Kleffner syndrome was conducted in a group of 12 patients followed-up for 2-15 years (mean: 8 yr). Seventy-five percent had exhibited some language disturbance prior to acquired epileptic aphasia. Even when 9 patients had normal electroencephalographic findings in the long-term course of the disease, only 3 achieved normal language. No patient with persisting electroencephalographic abnormalities recovered normal or near normal language. The need to perform detailed neurolinguistic and neuropsychologic evaluations in the work-up and follow-up of children with acquired epileptic aphasia is stressed. An adapted neuropsychologic profile battery proved to be practical and objective for the follow-up of these patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Pediatric Hospital, Prof. Dr. Juan P. Garrahan, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Soprano
authors.forename: E F
authors.initials: EF
authors.lastname: Garcia
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Caraballo
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Fejerman
mesh_terms: D000377:Agnosia / Q000175:diagnosis; D000849:Anomia / Q000175:diagnosis; D001037:Aphasia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004569:Electroencephalography; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007807:Language Tests; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013577:Syndrome