Pre--and postoperative general neurocognitive status and memory in 70 epilepsy surgery patients.
OBJECTIVE
To describe cognitive function preoperatively and cognitive change 2 years postoperatively in 70 consecutive adults in the Göteborg epilepsy surgery series.


METHODS
Analysis of general neurocognitive status and memory for the total group and for three subgroups: 26 patients with seizure onset in dominant temporal lobe, 28 patients with onset in non-dominant temporal lobe and 12 with frontal lobe onset. Preoperative performance was compared with a control group (n=30).


RESULTS
Preoperatively, patients were more impaired in general neurocognitive status than controls. Patients in the temporal lobe subgroups performed worse than controls in two memory variables. No postoperative negative change was found at group level. There was a small increase in Full Scale IQ and Performance IQ for the total patient group, and in Performance IQ for the frontal lobe subgroup. At individual level, many patients suffered losses or obtained gains in a number of memory variables without any consistent intra-pattern.


CONCLUSIONS
Cognitive stability was the main postoperative result. The importance of considering inter- and intra-individual variability of negative as well as positive change is emphasized.
Engman
E
E
Institute of Clinical Neuroscience, Department of Neurology, University of Göteborg, Sweden. elisabeth.engman@vgregion.se
Andersson-Roswall
L
L
Malmgren
K
K
D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000503:physiopathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D004827:Epilepsy / Q000150:complications* / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011300:Preoperative Care; D012720:Severity of Illness Index