Language Processing and Reorganization in the Brain in Patients with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy

This paper explores language comprehension and production in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy, a neurological disorder characterized by an epileptogenic focus near language areas or their homologues in the brain. Behavioral studies have shown that language processing in patients with temporal lobe epilepsy could be impaired across language domains — from single words to discourse. Neuroimaging data suggest that temporal lobe epilepsy may lead to changes in the lateralization and localization of language functions, reorganization of functional connections, and alterations in cortical structure and white matter tracts. The severity of language impairments and the degree of functional and structural reorganization in the brain correlate with clinical factors, including lateralization of the epileptogenic focus, age at seizure onset, disease duration, and frequency of epileptiform activity