Correlation of neuropsychological and metabolic changes after epilepsy surgery in patients with left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis.

Background: Epilepsy surgery often causes changes in cognition and cerebral glucose metabolism. Our aim was to explore relationships between pre- and postoperative cerebral metabolism as measured with F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and neuropsychological test scores in patients with left mesial temporal lobe epilepsy with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS), who were rendered seizure-free after epilepsy surgery.

Results: Thirteen patients were included.

Outcome after epilepsy surgery at the University Hospitals Leuven 1998-2012.

We performed a retrospective outcome study of 199 patients who underwent resective epilepsy surgery from 1998 to 2012 and had a minimum of one-year follow-up at the University Hospitals Leuven. Our aim was to assess seizure outcome, prognostic factors for seizure outcome and complication rate. Good seizure outcome after surgery was 38 % at 5 years and 34 % at 10 years follow-up.

Positron Emission Tomography (PET) Quantification of GABAA Receptors in the Brain of Fragile X Patients.

Over the last several years, evidence has accumulated that the GABAA receptor is compromised in animal models for fragile X syndrome (FXS), a common hereditary form of intellectual disability. In mouse and fly models, agonists of the GABAA receptor were able to rescue specific consequences of the fragile X mutation. Here, we imaged and quantified GABAA receptors in vivo in brain of fragile X patients using Positron Emission Topography (PET) and [11C]flumazenil, a known high-affinity and specific ligand for the benzodiazepine site of GABAA receptors.

Chemotherapy-induced structural changes in cerebral white matter and its correlation with impaired cognitive functioning in breast cancer patients.

A subgroup of patients with breast cancer suffers from mild cognitive impairment after chemotherapy. To uncover the neural substrate of these mental complaints, we examined cerebral white matter (WM) integrity after chemotherapy using magnetic resonance diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) in combination with detailed cognitive assessment. Postchemotherapy breast cancer patients (n = 17) and matched healthy controls (n = 18) were recruited for DTI and neuropsychological testing, including the self-report cognitive failure questionnaire (CFQ).

Cognitive deficits during status epilepticus and time course of recovery: a case report.

We describe a young woman with progressive cognitive and neurological deficits during a parietal lobe status epilepticus (SE). Ictal FDG-PET showed left parietal lobe hypermetabolism and frontal lobe hypometabolism with concomitant EEG slowing. Cognitive and neurological deficits fully reversed more than 1 year after seizure remission, and were associated with normalization of FDG-PET and EEG.

Paradoxical features of word finding difficulty in primary progressive aphasia.

Impaired word retrieval is a main symptom of primary progressive aphasia (PPA). The cognitive features of this impairment in PPA are poorly understood. We studied 12 patients with PPA (6 English-speaking and 6 Dutch-speaking), 7 patients with early-stage clinically probable Alzheimer's disease (PRAD), 5 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), and 15 age-matched, cognitively intact, control subjects.