The intellectual profile of pediatric patients with posterior cortex epilepsy

Lucas Emmanuel Lopes E Santos; Geisa de Angelis; Tonicarlo Rodrigues Velasco; Ursula Thome; Marcelo Volpon Santos; Hélio Rubens Machado; Ana Paula Andrade Hamad; Américo Ceiki Sakamoto; Lauro Wichert-Ana

doi:10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.108447

The intellectual profile of pediatric patients with posterior cortex epilepsy

Epilepsy Behav. 2021 Dec:125:108447. doi: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.108447. Epub 2021 Nov 25.

Authors

Lucas Emmanuel Lopes E Santos¹, Geisa de Angelis², Tonicarlo Rodrigues Velasco³, Ursula Thome³, Marcelo Volpon Santos⁴, Hélio Rubens Machado⁴, Ana Paula Andrade Hamad³, Américo Ceiki Sakamoto³, Lauro Wichert-Ana⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Radiology, Hematology and Clinical Oncology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil; Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil. Electronic address: lemmanuel@usp.br.
² Department of Radiology, Hematology and Clinical Oncology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil; Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
³ Department of Neurosciences and Behavioral Sciences, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
⁴ Department of Surgery and Anatomy, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.
⁵ Department of Radiology, Hematology and Clinical Oncology, Ribeirão Preto Medical School, University of São Paulo, Ribeirão Preto, SP, Brazil.

PMID: 34839240
DOI: 10.1016/j.yebeh.2021.108447

Abstract

Background: Cognitive functioning in epileptic syndromes has been widely explored in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), but few studies have investigated the neuropsychological profile in posterior cortex epilepsy (PCE). In this study, we investigated the presurgical intellectual profile of children and adolescents with drug-resistant PCE.

Methods: Children and adolescents diagnosed with PCE (n = 25) participated in this study. The data were obtained from medical records, with assessments carried out between the years 2003 and 2019. To compare the intellectual profile, we also included patients diagnosed with frontal (n = 26) and temporal lobe epilepsy (n = 40). The Wechsler Intelligence Scales were used for the assessment of general intelligence.

Results: There was an effect of the brain region on the Working Memory Index (p < 0.01), in which patients with TLE had significantly higher scores than groups with FLE (p < 0.01) and PCE (p < 0.05). We also demonstrated that patients with PCE tended to perform worse in the Processing Speed Index than patients with TLE (p = 0.055). The Full-Scale Intelligence Quotient, Verbal Comprehension, and Perceptual Reasoning indexes did not differ among the brain regions.

Conclusions: Children and adolescents with PCE demonstrated significant impairment in working memory and processing speed. The pattern of cognitive dysfunction in PCE was similar to that observed in FLE, which expands the evidence of the involvement of frontoparietal networks on cognitive proficiency.

Keywords: Intelligence; Neuropsychological assessment; Pediatric epilepsy; Posterior cortex epilepsy.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Child
Cognition
Epilepsy*
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe* / complications
Humans
Intelligence
Neuropsychological Tests