Clinical Research Directory

Intensive Preoperative Speech Rehabilitation in Drug-Resistant Temporal Epilepsy

Sponsor: Assistance Publique Hopitaux De Marseille

Summary

Out of 30,000 new cases per year in France, 30% of epileptic patients are drug-resistant. Neurosurgery, which consists in resecting the epileptogenic zone, is the only chance of cure. In the case of temporal epilepsy of the language-dominant hemisphere (TLE), this procedure presents a high risk of increasing cognitive difficulties and may even be contraindicated for this reason alone. The difficulties found are impairments in lexical access (anomia) and verbal memory and affect more than 60% of patients . Preoperative cognitive rehabilitation could influence brain plasticity mechanisms but there are currently no recommendations on this topic. In this context, the investigators have developed a speech rehabilitation procedure specific to the needs of ELTPR patients. They rely on cognitive hypotheses explaining the disorders but also on models of rehabilitation-induced neural plasticity likely to improve cognitive reserve before surgery. The investigators hypothesize that preoperative cognitive language rehabilitation in ELTPR patients may decrease surgical risk and improve postoperative language prognosis. The primary objective is to demonstrate the protective efficacy of preoperative speech rehabilitation on language performance postoperatively.

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