| title: | Cognitive disorders in epilepsy |
|---|---|
| reg no: | ETF6786 |
| project type: | Estonian Science Foundation research grant |
| subject: |
3.3. Clinical Medicine |
| status: | accepted |
| institution: | TU Faculty of Medicine |
| head of project: | Andre Õun |
| duration: | 01.01.2006 - 31.12.2008 |
| description: | The project will investigate neuropsychological problems in the patients with epilepsy, one of the most frequent neurological diseases. Epilepsy is a chronic polyetiological disease of the central nervous system, which is described by the presence of repeated unprovoked seizures. Consequences of epilepsy can be as serious as the disorder itself and resulting cognitive deficit can be more debilitating for the patient than the actual seizures itself. When compared with general population patients with epilepsy are more likely to suffer from impaired cognitive performance. Deficits in attention, concentration, memory and verbal functions are most common. Resulting dysfunction can interfere with different aspects of persons life, e.g. work, education, family and everyday life. Cognitive disturbances in epilepsy are a consequence of a range of a multifaceted and overlapping influences including: (1) etiology and underlying neuropathology of epilepsy, (2) epileptic discharges and seizures, (3) side effects of antiepileptic treatment, and (4) different psychosocial issues. Aims of the study 1. To compare the results of neuropsychological assessment of groups of patients with different epilepsies (focal vs. generalized syndromes) to the results of control group. 2. To investigate the relationship between interictal EEG activity and neuropsychological testing. 3. To investigate the correlation between subjective cognitive complaints of epilepsy patients and results of neuropsychological testing. 4. To investigate the relationship between possible morphological changes in brain imaging studies and neuropsychological assessment. 5. To find the proportion of patients with comorbid depression and to investigate the relationship between clinical data, depression and 5-HTT SPECT imaging in order to explore the role of serotoninergic system in possible common pathogenesis of epilepsy and depression. Participants for the study will be found among adult people with different epilepsy syndromes and healthy control subjects. Patients with diagnosis of epilepsy will be grouped into 3 study groups: (1) patients with extratemporal epilepsy, (2) patients with temporal lobe epilepsy and (3) patients with generalized epilepsy. The 4th group of subjects will be the group of healthy volunteers. Tests for neuropsychological assessment are mainly from the BRBNT battery, which estimate the changes in broad areas of various cognitive functions. A part of patients will be asked to participate in the SPECT study. This part includes patients with epilepsy and coexisting depression compared to patients with epilepsy but no depression and control subjects without epilepsy or depression. The usefulness of the project will appear during the project as expected since new methodologies for some specific aspects of epilepsy will be available – neuropsychological assessment, SPECT study. Final results should stress the importance cognitive and psychosocial factors in diagnosis and management of epilepsy. |
| project group | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| no | name | institution | position | |
| 1. | Katrin Gross-Paju | |||
| 2. | Sulev Haldre | |||
| 3. | Marika Liik | |||
| 4. | Liina Vahter | |||
| 5. | Andre Õun | Tartu Ülikool | ||