Memory performance is related to language dominance as determined by the intracarotid amobarbital procedure.

OBJECTIVE The goal of this study was to explore the relationship between language and memory lateralization in patients with epilepsy undergoing the intracarotid amobarbital procedure. METHODS In 386 patients, language lateralization and memory lateralization as determined by laterality index (LI) were correlated with each other. RESULTS Language lateralization and memory lateralization were positively correlated (r=0.34, P<0.01). Correlations differed depending on the presence and type of lesion (chi(2)=7.98, P<0.05). LIs correlated significantly higher (z=2.82, P<0.05) in patients with cortical dysplasia (n=41, r=0.61, P<0.01) compared with the group without lesions (n=90, r=0.16, P>0.05), with patients with hippocampal sclerosis falling between these two groups. Both memory (P<0.01) and language (P<0.01) LIs were higher in right- compared with left-sided lesions. CONCLUSION Correlation of language and memory is more pronounced in patients with structural lesions as compared with patients without lesions on MRI.