Frontal Lobe Dysfunction in Children With Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

There is evidence that adults with temporal lobe epilepsy present executive impairments. However, there is limited information in children, especially when using a comprehensive neuropsychologic battery. We aimed to: 1) investigate the presence and severity of executive dysfunctions in children with temporal lobe epilepsy, and 2) determine the implications of clinical variables (including etiology) in the occurrence and severity of executive dysfunction, using eight paradigms. Thirty-one children with temporal lobe epilepsy were evaluated and compared with 21 age-matched controls. Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy had significantly worse performance than controls. Intragroup analysis indicated that patients with symptomatic epilepsy were more impaired than those with cryptogenic epilepsy. In the former group, patients with mesial lesions performed worse than those with lateral lesions. Regarding the severity of executive dysfunction, 83.87% manifested severe to moderate executive impairment. Early age of onset, longer duration of epilepsy, and use of polytherapy were correlated with worse executive dysfunction. These findings indicated the presence of frontal lobe dysfunction in children with temporal lobe epilepsy, with worse performance in those with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy, early onset, longer duration of disease, and use of polytherapy. Our study corroborates the hypothesis that temporal lobe epileptogenic activity affects the extratemporal regions that mediate attentional and executive functions.