Abstracts

Rationale: To reveal the characteristics of the social cognition in patients with mesial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE). Methods: We assessed the social cognitive function using Iowa gambling task (IGT) in 20 MTLE patients( side of focus; left,12; right, 4; bi-temporal 12) and 20 age matched normal healthy controls. The IGT tests the ability to balance immediate rewards against long-term negative consequences, that simulate the real life decision making. All the patient underwent video/EEG monitoring and brain MRI to confirm the diagnosis of MTLE. Results: The IGT net score of the MTLE patients was significantly lower than that of the control (MTLE patients 166520 ± 800, control 268000 ± 800, P<0.05). The lower score indicates that MTLE patient selected the disadvantageous choices more frequently than the advantageous choices. We analyzed the correlations for the MTLE patients by Spearman’s rank correlation, which showed IGT net score positively correlated with age of seizure onset (P=0.512) and negatively correlated with duration of the illness(P=-0.649). Conclusions: We revealed that MTLE patients have dysfunction in social cognition assessed by the IGT. The longer duration of the illness caused more deficits in decision making assessed by IGT.