Antisaccades and memory-guided saccades in genetic generalized epilepsy and temporal lobe epilepsy

Abstract Objective Oculomotor tasks can be used to measure volitional control of behavior sensitive to frontal dysfunction. This study aimed to examine the saccadic eye movement in Genetic Generalized Epilepsy (GGE) which could correlate with the abnormality of the frontal lobe or the thalamo-frontal network. Methods Twenty-one patients with GGE were compared with 22 patients with Temporal Lobe Epilepsy (TLE) and 39 healthy controls. Visual-guided saccades, Antisaccades, and Memory-guided saccades as oculomotor tasks were performed using a novel gaze-tracker designed for clinical practice use. Results Patients with epilepsy (either GEE or TLE) had similar latency, accuracy, and velocity in visual-guided saccades and memory-guided saccades. Patients with epilepsy had similar latencies and correct antisaccade number. However, healthy volunteers, matched by age, had faster responses and more accurate results than patients with epilepsy. Conclusions Our investigations did not reveal differences between TLE and GGE patients’ groups in visually guided saccades, antisaccades, and memory-guided saccades, thus suggesting that the frontal cortical mechanisms responsible for them are not explicitly impaired in patients with GGE.