Auditory Temporal Ordering in Patients with Medial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy with and without Hippocampal Sclerosis

Abstract

Context: Temporal lobe epilepsy can affect central auditory processing (CAP) skills. Auditory temporal ordering (ATO) is a CAP skill that can be evaluated using duration pattern test (DPT). Aim: The aim is to evaluate ATO in patients with medial temporal lobe epilepsy (MTLE) with hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE + HS) and without hippocampal sclerosis (MTLE-HS) and in their subgroups. Settings and Design: It was a prospective cross-sectional behavioral observational study conducted in a tertiary neuropsychiatric hospital. Subjects and Methods: The subjects were patients with refractory MTLE (N = 100), comprising 50 “MTLE + HS” patients and 50 “MTLE-HS”. Age-range matched normal healthy subjects (n = 50) formed the control group. Both groups were administered duration pattern test (DPT). Statistical Analysis Used: Analysis of variance (ANOVA) with post hoc analysis, Dunnett's two-sided and Bonferroni, paired sample t-test, Pearson's correlation, and independent t-test. Results: The clinical groups performed significantly poorer than the control group, and however, did not differ significantly between them. The age at onset and the duration of the seizures did not have significant relation with the test measures. Conclusions: Patients with “MTLE + HS” as well as those with “MTLE-HS” and their respective subgroups revealed abnormal ATO indicating CAP dysfunction.