[Cognitive Development in Children with Benign Rolandic Epilepsy of Childhood with Centrotemporal Spikes - Results of a Current Systematic Database Search]

Abstract

Benign Rolandic Epilepsy (BRE) is one of the most common epilepsy syndromes in childhood. Although global intellectual performance is typically normal in BRE-patients, problems were found in specific cognitive domains. To summarize recent empirical findings concerning cognitive development in children with BRE a systematic literature search of clinical studies published between 2009 and 2015 was performed. 19 studies of relevance were found.In most recent studies children with BRE consistently showed general intellectual performance within the normal range. However, in two of the studies patients showed a significantly poorer (but still normal) performance in comparison to controls. The studies provide clear indications for a high prevalence of impairments in language (10 out of 12 studies) and academic performance (6 out of 8 studies) in children with BRE. Regarding deficits in other cognitive domains (attention, memory, visual/auditory perception, executive functions) current findings are inconsistent. In addition, no clear results are found in studies examining cognitive development after remission of BRE. Studies on the relationship between selected clinical/electroencephalographic characteristics (e. g. EEG-patterns, focus lateralization) and cognitive performance and studies on potential benefits of anti-epileptic therapy for cognitive functions also have not yielded consistent results. Studies using fMRI and evoked potentials provide evidence for functional reorganization of neural networks in BRE.Due to the developmental risks in children with BRE early cognitive assessment, early treatment and follow-up assessments are important.