The Cognitive Reserve Model and Its Relation to Preoperative Neuropsychological Rehabilitation in Patients with Refractory Medial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy: A Perspective Review

Introduction: Literature findings on cognitive rehabilitation procedures preand particularly postoperatively are very scarce in epilepsy patients. Specifically, in the domain of Medial Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (MTLE) representing the most frequent type of localization-related epilepsy most of these studies have focused on postoperative cognitive interventions to aid patients overcoming neuropsychological deficits after Temporal Lobectomy (TL). Little attention has been given to preoperative neurorehabilitation aiming to promote patients cognitive outcome. The aim of this review is mainly to highlight theory approaches enabling neuropsychologists to plan theoryguided effective cognitive rehabilitation interventions in MTLE patients before TL to the dominant temporal lobe. Methods: Only peer reviewed articles published in English have been searched in PubMed and Psycholit from the 1940 to 2017. Results: We propose the functional resource model and notions coming from functional hemispheric asymmetry as a potential theory tools to guide such preoperative neurorehabilitation efforts. Conclusion: By orienting preoperative cognitive rehabilitation towards enrichment of cognitive resources of the whole brain in general and the non-surgical hemisphere in particular, we expect a positive cognitive and memory post-operative outcome in MTLE patients undergoing dominant hemisphere temporal lobectomy.