Executive and memory functions of patients with mesial temporal sclerosis: association between neuropsychological evaluation and new neuroimage techniques

Abstract

Studies of patients with mesial temporal sclerosis have emphasized the episodic memory impairment related to hippocampal damage. There are few studies investigating other types of memory, such as semantic and everyday memory, even though these cognitive functions may also be impaired in these patients. Executive dysfunctions have also been evidenced in these patients, although there is a lack of consensus on the neuroanatomical and neurophysiological causes of these deficits. In addition, many of the current studies used only one test to investigate this complex cognitive function and there was an emphasis on the evaluation of cold executive functions. The objectives of this study are: (i) evaluate the different types of memory and executive functions of patients with mesial temporal sclerosis, (ii) categorize patients according to their level of cognitive impairment, (iii) measure the influence of epilepsy clinical variables and mood disorders in cognitive functioning of patients, (iv) determine the presence of changes in gray and white matter in the whole brain and investigate whether such changes are related to the presence and severity of cognitive deficits and (v) verify if pattern classification methodology can discriminate between different levels of cognitive dysfunction in patients with mesial temporal sclerosis.Forty-six patients with mesial temporal sclerosis will be evaluated, and their performance will be compared to 46 healthy subjects without neurological and psychiatric disorders, matched with patients by sex, age and socio-economic and demographic background. Subjects will undergo neuropsychological evaluation and MRI scan, from which voxel-based morphometry, diffusion tensor imaging and pattern classification will be obtained. (AU)