title: Preserved anterograde and remote memory in drug-responsive temporal lobe epileptic patients.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate cognition, particularly anterograde and remote memory, in patients suffering from unilateral drug-responsive mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) patients and to compare their performance with that observed in drug-resistant mTLE patients.
  
  
  METHODS
  Sixteen drug-responsive mTLE patients, with only infrequent seizures in their lifetime, were matched for demographic and clinical variables to 18 patients suffering from drug-resistant unilateral mTLE. A comprehensive neuropsychological examination, including baseline, anterograde memory tasks, and a large range of remote memory tests was carried out.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with drug-responsive epilepsy obtained average scores on every anterograde memory test. Although in general, they obtained lower scores than the healthy controls on remote memory tests, the differences failed to reach significance. Moreover, the drug-responsive group performed significantly better than the drug-resistant group on anterograde recall tests and an episodic autobiographical memory test. Performance was not significantly different between the patient groups in personal semantics or memory for public events.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our results show that a mild clinical course of mTLE with no cognitive deficits can occur notwithstanding hippocampal sclerosis. The differences in cognitive function between the two groups are likely due to distinct pathophysiology of the underlying cause of epilepsy. Drug-resistant seizures and cognitive deficits may be the consequence of a more severe underlying cerebral process. Better understanding of the variety of pathogenesis of mTLE could help to answer this open question.
authors.affiliation: Octogone - CERPP, EA 4156 and University Toulouse II - Le Mirail, Toulouse, France. Electronic address: voltzenl@univ-tlse2.fr.
authors.forename: Virginie
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Voltzenlogel
authors.affiliation: Fédération de médecine translationnelle, University Hospital, Strasbourg, France. Electronic address: Edouard.Hirsch@chru-strasbourg.fr.
authors.forename: Edouard
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hirsch
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Central Hospital, Nancy, France. Electronic address: jp.vignal@chu-nancy.fr.
authors.forename: Jean-Pierre
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Vignal
authors.affiliation: Explorations Neurophysiologiques, Department of Neurology, Hôpital Pierre Paul Riquet, University Hospital, & CerCo, Centre de recherche Cerveau et Cognition UMR 5549 - CNRS, Toulouse, France. Electronic address: valton.l@chu-toulouse.fr.
authors.forename: Luc
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Valton
authors.affiliation: INSERM, U1114 and Strasbourg University, Strasbourg, France. Electronic address: manning@unistra.fr.
authors.forename: Liliann
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Manning
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000927:Anticonvulsants / Q000627:therapeutic use; D004833:Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D061212:Memory, Episodic; D057567:Memory, Long-Term; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012598:Sclerosis / Q000473:pathology; D013702:Temporal Lobe / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D000927:Anticonvulsants
keywords: Autobiographical memory; Cognition; Public-events memory; Seizure; “Benign” temporal lobe epilepsy; “Mild” temporal lobe epilepsy