Neurocognitive development of children with congenital unilateral brain lesion and epilepsy

The aim of this study was to specify the neuropsychological deficits characteristic of children with unilateral non-progressive brain lesion. In order to assess these specific functions, we used a comprehensive model of congenital hemiparesis with partial epilepsy and newly diagnosed partial epilepsy without hemiparesis. The neuropsychological examination was performed using the NEPSY test battery on 44 children aged from 4 to 9 years. The children were divided into three groups: 18 children suffering from congenital hemiparesis with chronic partial epilepsy, 12 children with newly diagnosed partial epilepsy prior to anti-epileptic treatment, and 14 healthy controls matched by sex, age, and socioeconomic status. Children with congenital hemiparesis and epilepsy had a more clearly expressed cognitive dysfunction, especially in language, visuo-perceptual and memory tasks, than children with newly diagnosed partial epilepsy. The profile of cognitive weakness appears to be diffuse and quite similar in both groups, and it did not demonstrate a clear effect of lateralization, according to the side of epileptic electroencephalogram discharges. Children within both groups are likely to have a high risk of developing attention, phonological, visuo-perceptual, and memory deficits in their life. Especially interesting and surprising was the fact that the newly diagnosed epilepsy group demonstrated impairment not only in attention, visuo-perceptual and short-term memory skills, but also in auditory perception, lexical function, and the comprehension of speech. Therefore, it is recommended that children with epilepsy would undergo neuropsychological examination in order to assess their cognitive abilities.