Evaluation and influencing factor contrast analysis of cognitive functions in drug intractable frontal lobe or temporal lobe epilepsy patients

Objective To assess the cognitive function of drug intractable frontal lobe or temporal lobe epilepsy patients, and summarize the characteristics and influencing factors of cognitive dysfunction in these patients. Methods Forty-two patients with drug intractable frontal lobe or temporal lobe epilepsy, admitted to our hospital from April 2014 to December 2014, were chosen in our study; in them, 17 were frontal lobe epilepsy and 25 were temporal lobe epilepsy. All patients underwent cognitive function assessments, including Wechsler intelligence scales (WAIS-RC) and Wechsler memory scale (WMS), one week before surgery. Results (1) As compared with the norm mean (100), the scores of full scale intelligence quotient (FIQ, 87.23±10.12) and verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ, 86.26±8.79) in patients with epilepsy were decreased, with statistically significant difference (P<0.05); in the subtests of VIQ, the scores of arithmetic and vocabulary in the frontal lobe epilepsy group were significantly lower than those in the temporal lobe epilepsy group (P<0.05); multiple factors analysis found the FIQ scores of the group of younger than 14 years old in age of epilepsy onset were significantly lower than those in the group of older than 14 years old (P<0.05); the FIQ scores of multidrug therapy group were significantly lower than those of mono therapy group (P<0.05). (2) As compared with the norm (100 and 60), the scores of memory quotient (MQ, 82.42±8.31) and short-term memory (50.05±2.69) of epilepsy group were statistically lower (P<0.05); the scores of MQ and short-term memory of temporal epilepsy group were significantly lower than those of frontal epilepsy group (P<0.05). Conclusion There are many influence factors for cognitive function of epilepsy patients and the damages of cognitive function in frontal lobe or temporal lobe epilepsy patients are different, which might be related to the distributions of brain functional regions and damage of neural network connection. Key words: Epilepsy; Cognitive function assessment; Full intelligence quotient; Verbalintelligence quotient; Performance intelligence quotient; Memory quotient