title: Neuropsychological findings in idiopathic occipital lobe epilepsies.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  We reviewed the clinical charts of 22 patients (mean age 12 years) with idiopathic occipital lobe epilepsies (IOLE) to verify the presence of visuoperceptual difficulties.
  
  
  METHODS
  All 22 patients underwent a standard neuropsychiatric examination and had a sleep electroencephalogram (EEG). Eleven had normal development and adequate scholastic achievements, so no formal testing was performed. Psychological assessment was carried out in the remaining 11 patients who had been referred because of learning and behavioral difficulties.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  IQ was in the average/low-average range in most patients, with a cognitive profile characterized by relatively better verbal than performance abilities (8/11). There was a high incidence of scholastic disabilities (7/11); psychiatric disorders in the form of anxiety and depressive disorders were also frequent (6/11). In the six patients who had neuropsychological assessment with specific visuoperceptual testing, a deficit in facial discrimination was found in four patients, associated with a line orientation deficit in three. Although preliminary, and based on a tertiary-care clinical sample, these data suggest that children with IOLE, are at risk for lower intellectual performance, poor scholastic achievement and psychiatric disorders, as well as for specific deficits in the visuoperceptual domain, probably due to dysfunction of the occipitotemporal circuitries most often involved in seizure spread in epilepsies originating in the posterior brain.
authors.affiliation: Department of Developmental Neuroscience, Stella Maris Scientific Institute, University of Pisa, Pisa, Italy. a.chilosi@inpe.unipi.it
authors.forename: Anna Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Chilosi
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Brovedani
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Moscatelli
authors.forename: Paolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bonanni
authors.forename: Renzo
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Guerrini
mesh_terms: D000124:Achievement; D002648:Child; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D004569:Electroencephalography / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004828:Epilepsies, Partial / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007859:Learning Disabilities / Q000175:diagnosis; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010468:Perceptual Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D020238:Prosopagnosia / Q000175:diagnosis; D012307:Risk Factors; D012890:Sleep / Q000502:physiology