Correlation of cognitive dysfunction with hippocampal atrophy after temporal lobe epilepsy / 中华神经科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To compare the differences of cognitive dysfunction and hippocampal atrophy among patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and healthy controls and probe into the relativity of cognitive dysfunction with hippocampal atrophy after temporal lobe epilepsy. Methods Forty-nine TLE cases and 20 healthy individuals were randomly selected. The WAMS-R and WAIS-R scales were adopted to assess the memory and intelligence of all the subjects. Hippocampal volumes were measured by semiautomatic measurement on the head magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). The degree of hippocampal atrophy (DHA) and asymmetry index (AsI) were caculated by adjusting hippocampal volumes and ratio of difference of two lateral hippocampal volumes. Results Compared with the healthy controls, not only did the TLE patients exhibit more memory deficits (83.2±21.0,t=-3.365 ,P=0.001 ), but also more fullscale intelligence (91.0±12.3, t=- 4.291, P=0.000). The bilateral hippocampi of all TLE patients significantly decreased in volume ( P=0.000 ) and increased in AsI ( t=3.975, P=0.000 ). The MQ of TLE patients was significantly negatively related to the duration of the illness ( r=-0.339, P=0.017 ). The bilateral DHA and the hippocampal AsI were negatively related to Z scores (left: r=-0.297, P= 0.038, right: r=-0.305, P=0.033, AsI: r=-0.441, P=0.002), repectively. Conclusions The more the DHA and asymmetry of bilateral hippocampi, the worse the cognitive dysfunction. The quantitative measurements of hippocampal volume could be used as a clinically effective factor for evaluating the decrease of the intelligence of TLE patients.