OBJECTIVE The aim was to examine the effect of polytherapy (i.e., the number of administered anti-seizure medications (ASMs)) on memory, and whether the interaction between the number of ASMs and attentional/executive functioning affect presurgical memory functioning and postsurgical memory changes in patients with drug-resistant epilepsy. METHODS Two studies were carried out. Study 1 consisted of a presurgical assessment of 125 adult patients, in which attention/executive function (EpiTrack screening tool) and memory were assessed (cross-sectional study). Of them, 72 patients underwent a second postsurgical evaluation, in which memory was assessed (Study 2). Patients were distributed into groups based on EpiTrack performance and number of ASMs. RESULTS The interaction between the number of ASMs and the attentional/executive functioning significantly affected presurgical memory, with patients with impaired EpiTrack performance taking three-four ASMs having poorer scores than patients with intact EpiTrack performance taking three-four ASMs (for all, p < .0001). This interaction also affected postsurgical memory changes, with patients with impaired Epitrack performance taking three-four ASMs having higher postsurgical decline than those with intact Epitrack performance taking three-four ASMs (for all, p < .005). No differences were found in patients taking two ASMs. Furthermore, the number of ASMs was associated with presurgical memory performance and postsurgical memory changes only in patients with impaired EpiTrack performance (for all, p < .05). CONCLUSIONS Our findings underline the utility of EpiTrack, together with the clinical information on the number of prescribed ASMs, to corroborate the impact of polytherapy on memory and to optimize the prediction of postsurgical memory changes.

中文翻译：

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多疗法对耐药性癫痫患者记忆功能的影响：注意力和执行功能的作用。

目的 目的是检查多种疗法（即服用抗癫痫药物 (ASM) 的数量）对记忆的影响，以及 ASM 数量与注意力/执行功能之间的相互作用是否影响术前记忆功能和术后记忆变化耐药性癫痫患者。方法 进行了两项研究。研究 1 对 125 名成年患者进行了术前评估，其中评估了注意力/执行功能（EpiTrack 筛查工具）和记忆力（横断面研究）。其中 72 名患者接受了第二次术后评估，其中评估了记忆力（研究 2）。根据 EpiTrack 性能和 ASM 数量将患者分组。结果 ASM 数量与注意力/执行功能之间的相互作用显着影响术前记忆，服用 3-4 个 ASM 的 EpiTrack 表现受损的患者比服用 3-4 个 ASM 的 EpiTrack 表现完好的患者得分较差（对于所有患者，p < .0001）。这种相互作用还影响术后记忆变化，服用三到四颗 ASM 的 Epitrack 性能受损的患者比服用三到四颗 ASM 的 Epitrack 性能完好的患者术后记忆力下降更高（总体而言，p < .005）。服用两种 ASM 的患者没有发现差异。此外，仅在 EpiTrack 表现受损的患者中，ASM 的数量与术前记忆表现和术后记忆变化相关（对于所有患者，p < .05）。结论 我们的研究结果强调了 EpiTrack 的实用性，以及处方 ASM 数量的临床信息，可证实多疗法对记忆的影响并优化术后记忆变化的预测。