The relevance of neuropsychiatric symptoms and cognitive problems in new-onset epilepsy - Current knowledge and understanding.

Neurobehavioral and cognition problems are highly prevalent in epilepsy, but most research studies to date have not adequately addressed the precise nature of the relationship between these comorbidities and seizures. To address this complex issue and to facilitate collaborative, innovative research in the rising field of neurobehavioral comorbidities and cognition disturbances in new-onset epilepsy, international epilepsy experts met at the 3rd Halifax International Epilepsy Conference & Retreat at White Point, South Shore, Nova Scotia, Canada from September 18 to 20, 2014. This Conference Proceedings provides a summary of the conference proceedings. Specifically, the following topics are discussed: (i) role of comorbidities in epilepsy diagnosis and management, (ii) role of antiepileptic medications in understanding the relationship between epilepsy and neurobehavioral and cognition problems, and (iii) animal data and diagnostic approaches. Evidence to date, though limited, strongly suggests a bidirectional relationship between epilepsy and cognitive and psychiatric comorbidities. In fact, it is likely that seizures and neurobehavioral problems represent different symptoms of a common etiology or network-wide disturbance. As a reflection of this shared network, psychiatric comorbidities and/or cognition problems may actually precede the seizure occurrence and likely get often missed if not screened.

Functional MRI for language lateralization in individuals with intellectual and cognitive dysfunction: Two clinical case examples.

OBJECTIVE: Task-based functional MRI (fMRI) is a common non-invasive method of confirming hemispheric language dominance prior to neurosurgery in epilepsy. However, the use of this method is not recommended for individuals with cognitive dysfunction and in those with IQ below 70 due to concerns about accuracy of task performance in the scanner. This manuscript describes successful use of task-based functional MRI to lateralize language dominance in two individuals with cognitive dysfunction and intellectual disability. METHODS: Two patients completed a pre-surgical epilepsy work-up at the QEII Health Sciences Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, which included comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. They also completed an fMRI paradigm that involved semantic category fluency, sentence completion, naming to description and passage listening tasks with stimuli delivered both visually and auditorily. RESULTS: In both cases, fMRI maps were successful in lateralizing language dominance in relation to other clinical data, including intraoperative cortical mapping in one of the cases. CONCLUSIONS: This manuscript is the first to demonstrate that task-based fMRI can be used successfully to lateralize language in adult patients with cognitive and intellectual disabilities, and is the first to propose a specific paradigm for this purpose.