Hernandez Maria Teresa, Sauerwein Hannelore C, Jambaqué Isabelle, De Guise Elaine, Lussier Francine, Lortie Anne, Dulac Olivier, Lassonde Maryse
Groupe de Recherche en Neuropsychologie Expérimentale, Département de Psychologie, Université de Montréal, C.P. 6128, Succursale Centre-Ville, Montreal, Quebec, Canada H3C 3J7.
Neuropsychologia. 2002;40(4):384-400. doi: 10.1016/s0028-3932(01)00130-0.
Frontal lobe dysfunction in adults has been associated with impairments of planning abilities, working memory, impulse control, attention and certain aspects of motor coordination. However, very few studies have attempted to assess these functions in children suffering from frontal lobe epilepsy. The aim of the present study was to determine whether some or all of the components of the frontal lobe syndrome are present in children with this disorder. For this purpose, a neuropsychological test battery was administered to 32 unresected epileptic children, aged 8-16 years: 16 with frontal lobe epilepsy (FLE), eight with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and eight with generalized epilepsy whose principal manifestations were typical absences (GEA). The performances of the three epileptic groups were further compared to normative data derived from 200 French-speaking, healthy children aged 7-16 years, except for standardized tests for which the norms provided in the manual were used. The three epilepsy groups did not differ with respect to conceptual shift and recency memory. However, the FLE children showed deficits in planning and impulse control. Furthermore, they had significantly more coordination problems and exhibited greater rigidity than the other epilepsy groups on the motor tests. These problems were more marked in younger FLE children (8-12 years). The latter were also more impaired on verbal fluency measures. No differences were observed with respect to gender, localization of the epileptic abnormality (unilateral versus bilateral) or medication (monotherapy versus polytherapy). The findings reveal similarities between the neuropsychological profiles of FLE children and adults with frontal lobe lesions.
成人的额叶功能障碍与计划能力、工作记忆、冲动控制、注意力及运动协调的某些方面受损有关。然而，极少有研究尝试评估患有额叶癫痫的儿童的这些功能。本研究的目的是确定患有这种疾病的儿童是否存在部分或全部额叶综合征的症状。为此，对32名年龄在8至16岁未接受手术的癫痫儿童进行了一套神经心理测试：16名患有额叶癫痫（FLE），8名患有颞叶癫痫（TLE），8名患有主要表现为典型失神发作的全身性癫痫（GEA）。除了使用手册中提供的规范的标准化测试外，将这三组癫痫儿童的表现与来自200名7至16岁讲法语的健康儿童的标准数据进行了进一步比较。三组癫痫儿童在概念转换和近因记忆方面没有差异。然而，额叶癫痫儿童在计划和冲动控制方面存在缺陷。此外，在运动测试中，他们比其他癫痫组有更多的协调问题，并且表现出更大的僵硬程度。这些问题在较年轻的额叶癫痫儿童（8至12岁）中更为明显。后者在语言流畅性测试中也受损更严重。在性别、癫痫异常的定位（单侧与双侧）或药物治疗（单一疗法与联合疗法）方面未观察到差异。研究结果揭示了额叶癫痫儿童与患有额叶病变的成人在神经心理特征上的相似之处。
