2009 Volume 26 Issue 3 Pages 403-410
Purpose: We conducted a multi-center study to investigate the correlation between psychotic symptoms and handedness in patients with focal epilepsy.
Methods: Three groups of patients (32 focal epilepsy patients without psychosis, 32 focal epilepsy patients with psychosis, and 25 patients with schizophrenia) were enrolled. General characteristics, epilepsy-related factors, and psychosis-related factors were evaluated. We evaluated handedness with the Annette Hand Preference Questionnaire and intelligence with the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-Revised. The distribution of handedness and clinical characteristics of each group were analyzed.
Results: The distribution of handedness did not differ among the three groups. There was no significant correlation between handedness and the lateralization of EEG abnormalities. Several left-handed and ambidextrous patients showed MRI abnormalities in the left hemisphere or the bilateral hemispheres. Although the group of epilepsy patients with psychosis showed lower intellectual functioning than the other groups, intellectual functioning was not significantly associated with the distribution of handedness.
Conclusion: The epilepsy patients with psychosis showed no particular pattern of handedness compared with the epilepsy patients without psychosis or the patients with schizophrenia.
