How can neuropsychology help with surgery?
Neuropsychology can localize an area of functional loss in the brain. This area of dysfunction is strongly correlated in epilepsy with the area of seizure onset. Functions such as memory have verbal and nonverbal components that can be separated out along language-dominant and non-dominant hemispheres of the brain. The protocol used for confirmation of seizure onset incorporates neuropsychological results. Most epilepsy centers have found that with testing they can also predict memory difficulties before surgery on the temporal lobe and therefore modify the surgical procedure to prevent amnesia. Selection of appropriate tests in the neuropsychological test battery is crucial for its success. The interpretation is very dependent on familiarity with prior results in epilepsy patients.
