Changes in Performance on Wais, Trail Making Test and Finger Tapping Test Associated with Carotid Artery Surgery

Abstract

47 patients with vascular disease were divided into small vessel disease group (SVD), large vessel disease operated group (LVD-O) and large vessel disease nonoperated group (LVD-N). They were tested during their first hospitalization and at a follow-up some months later. There were no significant changes for any group on the Trail Making Test and on the Finger Tapping Test. On the WAIS the SVD made significant gains on the Verbal IQ (VIQ), Performance IQ (PIQ) and Full Scale IQ (FSIQ); the LVD-O made significant gains on PIQ and FSIQ; and the LVD-N made no significant gains on any of the three scores. Dividing the LVD-O by lesion laterality, the leftside lesioned group made significant gains on PIQ and FSIQ, while the right-side lesioned group made significant gains on all three measures.

Impact of Carotid Endarterectomy upon Cognitive Functioning

“…Since many early studies fail to mention the proportion of stroke patients in their study [8, 9, 12, 14, 20], it is difficult to determine whether the control group was appropriate.…”

“…Studies including subgroup analysis have been more fruitful in identifying the conditions under which neuropsychological improvement is seen [1, 4, 9, 18, 22, 25, 27, 28, 29], although it is important to note that some of these analyses were post hoc examinations of the data and may reflect chance findings.…”

“…These are displayed in table 1 [1, 4, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31]. …”

Neuropsychological Changes in Patients with Carotid Stenosis after Carotid Endarterectomy

“…Duke et al [21] and Diener et al [22] reported improvement only in intelligence tests, while King et al [23] reported improvement in perceptual (nonverbal) intelligence quotient. Other studies reported improvement in memory and verbal fluency [14], and improvements in memory and mental abilities [18].…”

Psychological impact of carotid endarterectomy: A review of the studies

“…Different dimensions have been studied as possible incidental factors on the result of the CEA relative to the variation in the cognitive functioning, such as the symptoms preceding the operation, while age and level of education were the demographic factors considered among most of the studies. Only one study assessed the intelligent quotient [18], while another study considered also medical factors such as clamp-time, number of strokes and time from the last TIA [13]. Concerning the psychological dimensions evaluated, the number of neuropsychological tests used ranged from 5 up to 34.…”