How neuropsychology can improve the care of individual patients with epilepsy. Looking back and into the future

Highlights • The determinants of cognitive impairment in epilepsy are known since long. • After 20-30 years of extensive research, neuropsychology still struggles with knowledge transfer to individual patient care. • Progress in regard to diagnostics, disease, and outcome monitoring is discussed. • National and international efforts for reaching a common diagnostics are outlined. • Proposals for indication of assessment and an evidence based test selection are made. • The impact of neuropsychology on safer surgery and drug treatment and. • on outcome prediction are discussed. • The necessity to assess and follow up patients from the beginning of epilepsy is pointed out