Methylphenidate treatment for cognitive symptoms associated with ADHD in a pediatric epilepsy patient following resection of a left frontal cortical dysplasia

Abstract

We present data on a 10-year-old patient with drug-resistant epilepsy who was treated with methylphenidate for symptoms of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) that developed after she underwent surgical resection of a left frontal cortical dysplasia. The patient’s parents reported methylphenidate was helpful in improving their child’s reading performance. Based on parents’ report, we examined benefits of methylphenidate on our patient’s cognitive problems in a controlled setting. The patient underwent a neuropsychological evaluation completed in three sessions over a five-day period. Methylphenidate was administered prior to the second testing session only and was associated with improvements in the patient’s attention, executive function, processing speed, and short-term memory performances. In comparison, word-reading performance, a task less susceptible to neurological impairment, was stable over the three sessions. The patient remained seizure-free after surgery and use of methylphenidate did not reduce seizure threshold. These findings support the use of methylphenidate in treating targeted cognitive problems associated with ADHD emerging after epilepsy surgery in children.

Keywords

• Pediatric epilepsy
• Epilepsy surgery
• Left frontal cortical dysplasia
• Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder
• Methylphenidate