Cognitive function and the longitudinal hippocampal axis in mesial temporal sclerosis.

Objective: The relationship of preoperative memory deficits in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (mTLE) and hippocampal sclerosis (HS) to the distribution of neuronal loss is uncertain. Building on the material specificity theory, we tested the hypothesis that visual memory deficits are associated with posterior hippocampal atrophy, whereas verbal memory deficits are associated with anterior hippocampal atrophy.

Methods: We studied 22 adults with mTLE and HS, calculating hippocampal head, body, and tail volumes, correcting for estimated total intracranial volume, using automated segmentation.