Abstract

Objective

To investigate the performance of epilepsy patients diagnosed with unilateral mesial temporal sclerosis (MTS) on a nonverbal fluency measure using the five-point test (FPT). Our secondary aim was to investigate any differences in FPT and verbal fluency test (VFT) scores between left and right MTS. We hypothesized that scores on the FPT, commonly utilized in the assessment of individuals with presumed frontal lobe damage, would be lower in patients with temporal lobe dysfunction.

Method

One hundred eighty patients diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE) and 150 healthy controls (HCs) were included in this retrospective study. We analyzed correlations between scores obtained from FPT and phonemic and semantic VFT, and scores according to the lateralization of epileptogenic focus in the TLE group.

Results

Overall, the TLE patients had lower performance than the HCs on the FPT, but no differences were observed on perseverance rates (p = 0.992). Statistically significant difference was found in both sections of the VFT in association with the lateralization of the epileptogenic zone (p < 0.001). As for the FPT, differences did not reach statistical significance (p = 0.0857).

Conclusions

Our results support the hypothesis of involvement of the temporal areas on tasks such as the FPT, despite the lack of a lateralizing effect. Our findings also contribute to better understanding of the role of the FPT in assessment of executive function in patients with unilateral MTS, and provide further psychometric data on a native Brazilian population.

中文翻译：

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通过五点测试评估单侧颞叶内侧硬化癫痫患者的非语言流利程度——一项巴西研究

摘要

客观的

使用五点测试 (FPT) 调查被诊断为单侧颞叶内侧硬化 (MTS) 的癫痫患者在非语言流畅性测量中的表现。我们的次要目的是调查左右 MTS 之间 FPT 和语言流利度测试 (VFT) 分数的任何差异。我们假设 FPT 的分数（通常用于评估假定额叶损伤的个体）在颞叶功能障碍患者中会较低。

方法

这项回顾性研究包括 180 名被诊断患有颞叶癫痫 (TLE) 的患者和 150 名健康对照者 (HC)。我们分析了从 FPT 获得的分数与音素和语义 VFT 之间的相关性，以及根据 TLE 组癫痫病灶偏侧化的分数。

结果

总体而言，TLE 患者在 FPT 上的表现低于 HC，但在坚持率方面没有观察到差异 ( p =  0.992)。在 VFT 的两个部分中发现与致癫痫区偏侧相关的统计学显着差异 ( p <  0.001)。至于 FPT，差异没有达到统计学意义（p =  0.0857）。

结论

我们的结果支持时间区域参与 FPT 等任务的假设，尽管缺乏横向化效应。我们的研究结果还有助于更好地理解 FPT 在评估单侧 MTS 患者执行功能中的作用，并提供有关巴西本土人口的进一步心理测量数据。