Assessment of working memory in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy associated with unilateral hippocampal sclerosis

Abstract Objective The aim of the present study was to investigate whether working memory is impaired in mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS), a controversial and largely unexplored matter. Methods Twenty subjects with left MTLE-HS, 19 with right MTLE-HS, and 21 control right-handed subjects underwent neuropsychological assessment of episodic and semantic memory, executive functions, and specific working memory components. Results Left and right epileptogenic foci resulted in impairment of verbal and nonverbal episodic memory (verbal memory deficit greater in left MTLE-HS than in right MTLE-HS). In addition, patients with left MTLE-HS were impaired in learning paired associates, verbal fluency, and Trail Making. No differences were seen in the tests carried out to evaluate the working memory components (except visuospatial short-term memory in right MTLE-HS). Conclusion In this study we did not detect reliable working memory impairment in patients with MTLE-HS with either a left or right focus in most tasks considered as tests of working memory components.