Objective:To explore the effects of anterior temporal lobectomy on the mini-mental state examination (MMSE) score, memory of patients with intractable temporal lobe epilepsy.Methods:104 patients with refractory temporal lobe epilepsy admitted to our hospital from June 2013 to June 2019 were selected, of which 68 cases were treated surgically as the observation group and 36 cases were treated medically as the control group. MMSE score, memory and social functions were compared between the two groups.Results:The total effective rate of the observation group was 95.59%, which was significantly higher than 83.33% of the control group ( P<0.05). The MMSE score of the observation group was significantly higher than that of the control group at 1 month and 6 months after treatment ( P<0.05); the MMSE score of the control group at 6 months after treatment was significantly higher than that before treatment ( P<0.05). Six months after treatment, performance intelligence quotient (PIQ), verbal intelligence quotient (VIQ) and full intelligence quotient (FIQ) in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group ( P<0.05), and there was significant difference between the two groups ( P<0.05). The memory quotient (MQ) of observation group was lower than that of control group 1 month after treatment ( P<0.05), and higher than that of control group six months after treatment ( P<0.05). Six months after treatment, the scores of social function and comprehensive quality of life in the observation group were significantly higher than those in the control group ( P<0.05), and there were significant differences between the two groups ( P<0.05). There were 4 cases of complications in the observation group after treatment, all of them improved after drug treatment, without other serious complications. Conclusions:Anterior temporal lobectomy is effective in the treatment of refractory temporal lobe epilepsy, it can improve cognitive and memory functions and social behavior function of patients, and has less complications after operation, with certain clinical application value.