Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2019 Feb 27:10:167.
doi: 10.3389/fneur.2019.00167. eCollection 2019.

Non-invasive Cognitive Enhancement in Epilepsy

Claire S Jacobs  1 , Kim C Willment  2 , Rani A Sarkis  2
Affiliations
Review

Non-invasive Cognitive Enhancement in Epilepsy

Claire S Jacobs et al. Front Neurol. .

Abstract

Epilepsy patients frequently experience cognitive difficulties, particularly in the domains of memory, attention, and executive function. Despite the frequency of these difficulties among epilepsy patients, current strategies to treat cognitive dysfunction are limited. We performed a systematic review of controlled trials of non-invasive cognitive enhancement in epilepsy. We identified studies examining the efficacy of pharmacological agents, namely the acetylcholinesterase inhibitors donepezil and galantamine, the NMDA non-competitive antagonist memantine, and the stimulant methylphenidate, as well as non-invasive non-pharmacological transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). We highlight the data currently available and the limitations of the current literature.

Keywords: cognition; donepezil; epilepsy; memantine; memory; neuromodulation; stimulants.

PubMed Disclaimer

References

    1. Thompson PJ, Corcoran R. Everyday memory failures in people with epilepsy. Epilepsia (1992) 33(Suppl 6):S18–20. - PubMed
    1. Hermann B, Seidenberg M, Jones J. The neurobehavioural comorbidities of epilepsy: can a natural history be developed? Lancet Neurol. (2008) 7:151–60. 10.1016/S1474-4422(08)70018-8 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Baker GA, Taylor J, Aldenkamp AP, SANAD group. Newly diagnosed epilepsy: cognitive outcome after 12 months. Epilepsia (2011) 52:1084–91. 10.1111/j.1528-1167.2011.03043.x - DOI - PubMed
    1. Leeman-Markowski BA, Schachter SC. Treatment of cognitive deficits in epilepsy. Neurol Clin. (2016) 34:183–204. 10.1016/j.ncl.2015.08.008 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Cortese S, Adamo N, Del Giovane C, Mohr-Jensen C, Hayes AJ, Carucci S, et al. . Comparative efficacy and tolerability of medications for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder in children, adolescents, and adults: a systematic review and network meta-analysis. Lancet Psychiatry (2018) 5:727–38. 10.1016/S2215-0366(18)30269-4 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources