Age Effect on Cognition Improvements after Unilateral Anterior Temporal Lobectomy in Adults with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

Background Patients with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) suffer from both uncontrollable seizures and cognition impairments. Although unilateral anterior temporal lobectomy (ATL) is one of the most efficient treatments for TLE, the cognition outcomes are still under debate. The purpose of the current study was to reveal whether the hemisphere of ATL and other clinical characters would affect the cognition outcomes in adults with TLE. Methods The neuropsychological and clinical data of 29 right and 24 left TLE patients who treated with unilateral ATL between February, 2014 and March, 2016 in a single epilepsy center were analyzed. Neuropsychological data were collected from preoperative, 3 and 12 months postoperative stages, including verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ), performance intelligence quotient (PIQ), full intelligence quotient (FIQ), memory quotient (MQ), age of ATL surgery, age of seizure onset, and illness duration. Results The PIQ scores of the patients with left ATL were significantly improved while the MQ scores of the patients with right ATL was significantly improved, in both 3 and 12 months postoperative stages. Specially, the short-term memory scores of the patients with right ATL were significantly improved, in both 3 and 12 months postoperative stages. Significant negative correlations were found between memory improvements (especially short-term memory) and ages of both ATL surgery and ages of seizure onset in patients with left ATL. Conclusion The left ATL could mainly improve the performance intelligence while the right ATL could mainly improve the memory of patients with TLE. Either earlier ages of ATL surgery or ages of seizure onset could predict better memory outcomes after left ATL.