[Executive cognitive alteration of prefrontal type in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy].
This study examines the performance on executive function--classically considered as purported by the frontal lobes--in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE). Two groups of patients were evaluated: one consisted of 16 TLE patients and the other comprised 12 patients with primary generalised epilepsy (PGE). The Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) was used as a measure of executive function. Results demonstrated that performance on the WCST was remarkably defective in the TLE group, showing a pattern suggestive of frontal like executive dysfunction in a 75% of the patients, against the 17% of the PGE group (p < 0.001). Impairment was evident when number of categories achieved (p < 0.05), perseverative errors (p < 0.001) and perseverative responses (p < 0.001) were considered. Clinical and theoretical significance of these findings may reflex the executive dysfunction of the mesial temporal lobe region as part of the temporo-frontal circuit.
Drake
M
M
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Británico de Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Allegri
R F
RF
Thomson
A
A
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology*; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D017397:Prefrontal Cortex / Q000503:physiopathology*