Language dysfunction after frontal lobe partial seizures

Abstract

Postictal language delay (PILD) patterns can lateralize temporal lobe complex partial seizures (CPS). The authors studied PILD in 24 patients with 118 frontal lobe CPS. Prolonged PILD occurred in only 7% of CPS confined to the dominant frontal lobe compared with 91% of CPS that started as frontal and spread to the dominant temporal lobe (p = 0.0001). Postictal language testing provides important information on frontal CPS localization and spread.