Cognitive outcome of parietooccipital resection in children with epilepsy

Abstract

Purpose: We followed the neuropsychological development of five children who underwent unilateral neurosurgery of the occipitoparietal lobes as a treatment for epilepsy caused by a developmental lesion (cortical dysplasia). Methods: The follow-up period ranged from 3-7 years postsurgery. Results: Two participants had a verbal intelligence quotient (IQ) >100 and three had a verbal IQ between 65 and 80. All five children had abnormal nonverbal IQ and exhibited deficits related to visual attention, object recognition, and praxis. Nevertheless, our results suggest that brain plasticity after parietooccipital epilepsy surgery in young children allows for a schooling level of cognitive skills such as reading and arithmetic. Discussion: Although recovery for visual perceptual cognition was more limited than for verbal functions, long-term neuropsychological outcomes showed that early surgery for epilepsy offers the possibility of optimizing cognitive outcomes in children with posterior intractable epilepsies. © 2010 International League Against Epilepsy.