Resumption of behavior following intracarotid sodium amobarbital injection

Abstract

Recovery rates of selected behaviour following intracartid sodium amobarbital injection were examined in 17 patients with unilateral focal temporal lobe epilepsy. Left hemisphere injections resulted in more prolonged disruption of naming (p < 0.00001), reading (p < 0.0001), matching‐to‐sample behaviours (p < 0.05), and short‐term recognition memory for pictures (p < 0.0001) and words (p < 0.0003) than did right hemisphere injections. In addition, recovery of behaviours was prolonged if the injection was administered to the hemisphere contralateral to that with the primary seizure focus (p < 0.005). A trend toward a similar pattern was seen in the postinjection electroencephalogram with the maximum slowing found in the injected hemisphere prolonged if the epileptic focus was in the contralateral hemisphere (p = 0.06). These findings suggest a negative effect of an epileptic lesion on the contralateral hemisphere.