Working memory deficit in drug-resistant epilepsy with an amygdala lesion

Keiko Usui; Kiyohito Terada; Naotaka Usui; Kazumi Matsuda; Akihiko Kondo; Takayasu Tottori; Jun Shinozaki; Takashi Nagamine; Yushi Inoue

doi:10.1016/j.ebcr.2018.07.003

Working memory deficit in drug-resistant epilepsy with an amygdala lesion

Epilepsy Behav Case Rep. 2018 Jul 17:10:86-91. doi: 10.1016/j.ebcr.2018.07.003. eCollection 2018.

Authors

Keiko Usui¹, Kiyohito Terada², Naotaka Usui², Kazumi Matsuda², Akihiko Kondo², Takayasu Tottori², Jun Shinozaki¹, Takashi Nagamine¹, Yushi Inoue²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Systems Neuroscience, School of Medicine, Sapporo Medical University, Japan.
² National Hospital Organization, National Epilepsy Center, Shizuoka Institute of Epilepsy and Neurological Disorders, Japan.

Abstract

This study compared temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) patients with amygdala lesion (AL) without hippocampal sclerosis (HS) (TLE-AL) with patients with TLE and HS without AL (TLE-HS). Both subtypes of TLE arose from the right hemisphere. The TLE-AL group exhibited a lower Working Memory Index (WMI) on the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, third edition (WAIS-III), indicating that the amygdala in the right hemisphere is involved in memory-related function. [18F]fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission topography (FDG-PET) showed glucose hypometabolism limited to the right uncus for the TLE-AL group. The results suggest the importance of considering cognitive functions in the non-dominant hemisphere to prevent impairment after surgery.

Keywords: Amygdala lesion; Cognitive functions; Temporal lobe epilepsy; Working memory.

Publication types

Case Reports