Health & Medicine Week via NewsEdge :

2008 MAY 12 - (NewsRx.com) -- "This study evaluated pre- and postoperatively cognitive functions in 15 pediatric patients with surgically treated parietal lobe epilepsy (PLE) (see also Epilepsy). Seizure outcome was very satisfying with 87% seizure-free patients 1 year after surgery, and 82% in the long-term follow-up," scientists writing in the journal Epilepsia report.

"Preoperative intelligence was in the subaverage range. Impairments in specific cognitive functions (memory, attention, executive functions) were evident preoperatively for 39-66% of patients. Behavioral disorders were rare. No side differences (left versus right PLE) were indicated pre- or postoperatively. Postoperative improvements were found in behavior and attention; other cognitive functions were unchanged," wrote U. Gleissner and colleagues, University of Bonn.

The researchers concluded: "All in all, this preliminary study indicated a satisfactory neuropsychological outcome in pediatric patients with PLE."

Gleissner and colleagues published their study in Epilepsia (Neuropsychological results in pediatric patients with epilepsy surgery in the parietal cortex. Epilepsia, 2008;49(4):700-704).

Additional information can be obtained by contacting U. Gleissner, University of Bonn, Dept. of Epileptol, Sigmund Freud Str 25, D-53105 Bonn, Germany.

The publisher of the journal Epilepsia can be contacted at: Blackwell Publishing, 9600 Garsington Rd., Oxford OX4 2DQ, Oxon, England.

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