Neuropsychological Assessment for Temporal Lobe Epilepsy Surgery

Neuropsychological assessment consists of a comprehensive evaluation of cognitive functioning and most often some evaluation of motor skills and sensory status also. Cognitive functions sampled typically include “intelligence” (IQ tests), attention, language skills, visuospatial abilities, “executiv...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian journal of neurological sciences 2000-05, Vol.27 (S1), p.S39-S43
Main Authors: Jones-Gotman, Marilyn, Harnadek, Michael C.S., Kubu, Cynthia S.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Biological and medical sciences
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe - physiopathology
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe - psychology
Epilepsy, Temporal Lobe - surgery
Headache. Facial pains. Syncopes. Epilepsia. Intracranial hypertension. Brain oedema. Cerebral palsy
Humans
Medical sciences
Nervous system (semeiology, syndromes)
Neurology
Neuropsychological Tests
Neurosurgery
Sensitivity and Specificity
Temporal Lobe - physiopathology
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Summary:Neuropsychological assessment consists of a comprehensive evaluation of cognitive functioning and most often some evaluation of motor skills and sensory status also. Cognitive functions sampled typically include “intelligence” (IQ tests), attention, language skills, visuospatial abilities, “executive skills” and other abilities associated with frontal-lobe function, and learning and memory. Thus, the assessment samples vary widely among a variety of functions, providing a comprehensive picture of an individual's strengths and weaknesses. The resulting pattern points to the probable site of epileptic focus. Neuropsychological findings also serve to predict the risk for postsurgical cognitive decline and, when performance before and after operation is compared, they provide data on the impact of surgery upon cognitive functioning. Comprehensive evaluation of learning and memory is particularly important in this context, because of the frequency of temporal lobe epilepsy and the prominence of memory dysfunction associated with it. In addition, patients slated for elective surgery may also undergo an intracarotid amobarbital procedure (IAP), which is performed to determine the side of cerebral dominance for language and to test the memory capabilities of each hemisphere alone. All of these specialized neuropsychological tools are discussed in this paper.
ISSN:0317-1671
2057-0155
DOI:10.1017/S0317167100000639