title: Memory and language impairments and their relationships to hippocampal and perirhinal cortex damage in patients with medial temporal lobe epilepsy.
abstract: Chronic medial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) is associated with memory loss due to damage in the hippocampal system. To investigate the relationship between volume of medial temporal lobe structures and performance on neuropsychological tests, we studied 39 consecutive patients with MTLE and unilateral hippocampal atrophy (HA) determined by volumetric magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Structures of interest comprised hippocampus, amygdala, and entorhinal, perirhinal, parahippocampal, and temporopolar cortices. The findings indicated that (1) performance was significantly worse in the group with left HA as compared with the group with right HA on general memory, verbal memory, delayed recall, and verbal fluency tests and the Boston Naming Test (BNT), and (2) the volume of the left hippocampus and also the degree of asymmetry of perirhinal cortex volume were significant and independent predictors of performance on general memory, verbal memory, and verbal fluency tests and the BNT in patients with MTLE.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, State University of Campinas, Campinas, Brazil.
authors.forename: Andréa
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Alessio
authors.forename: Leonardo
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bonilha
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Rorden
authors.forename: Eliane
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
authors.forename: Li Li
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Min
authors.forename: Benito P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Damasceno
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Cendes
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D005260:Female; D006624:Hippocampus / Q000473:pathology*; D006801:Humans; D007360:Intelligence; D007806:Language Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D008032:Limbic System / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008569:Memory Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*