Maze learning in patients with intracranial arachnoid cysts

Isaksen, Elisabeth Thuestad; Leet, Therese Hamre; Helland, Christian A.; Wester, Knut

doi:10.1007/s00701-013-1641-0

Cited by 23 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Furthermore, the present results show for the first time that patients significantly improve their ability to perform executive functions after surgical decompression of the cyst. The study also adds to the substantiation that cysts may hamper cognitive dysfunction involving more basic cognitive skills, as shown in previous studies [15-22,27]. …”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

“…This phenomenon may explain not only the lack of association between clinical and neuroimaging outcomes, but also the lack of association between cyst size and cognitive impairment as observed in the present study. For visuospatial cognition, our group has previously demonstrated a similar lack of association between cyst size and maze learning [22]. …”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

“…Several disorders have been linked to cysts affecting the temporal and frontal lobes; for review, see Wester [10]. Only a few studies have examined cognition in a larger series of patients with cysts before and after surgical decompression in a systematic fashion; they all indicate that temporal cysts may impair several, mostly basic aspects of cognition and, more importantly, that cognition normalizes after surgical cyst decompression [15-22]. This normalization of cognition may occur as early as 4 hours after surgery [19].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Intracranial arachnoid cysts: impairment of higher cognitive functions and postoperative improvement

Gjerde

Schmid

Hammar

et al. 2013

J Neurodevelop Disord

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BackgroundIntracranial arachnoid cysts have been shown to yield cognitive impairment over a range of basic mental functions, and these functions normalize after surgical cyst decompression. We wanted to investigate whether such cysts may also impair executive cognitive functions, and whether surgical cyst decompression leads to an improvement.MethodsThis study included 22 patients with arachnoid cysts and 13 control patients scheduled for low back surgery. All subjects were tested with Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System (D-KEFS) tests, assessing executive function 1 day before surgery and a minimum of 3 months after surgery. The data were analyzed according to scaled score computations based on raw scores provided by D-KEFS, adjusted for age, gender, and educational norms.ResultsPreoperatively, the patients with cysts group performed worse than the control group in verbal knowledge, mental flexibility, inhibitory capacity, problem solving, and planning skills. Postoperatively, the patients with cysts group significantly improved performance and were no longer different from the control group in the following subtests: inhibition, inhibition/switching, letter fluency, category switching, and total switching accuracy. The patients with cysts group also significantly improved performance in color naming, category fluency, and in the Tower test, but nevertheless remained impaired at follow-up compared with the control group. The control group did not show a similar improvement, except for the Tower test. Cyst size or postoperative volume reduction did not correlate with cognitive performance or postoperative improvement. Patients with left-sided temporal cysts performed poorer than patients with right-sided cysts on a complex verbal task demanding mental flexibility.ConclusionsArachnoid cysts seem to impair not only basic cognition, but also executive functions. Most of this impairment appears to be reversible after surgical cyst decompression. These results may have implications for future preoperative considerations for patients with intracranial arachnoid cysts.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 73%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Intracranial arachnoid cysts: impairment of higher cognitive functions and postoperative improvement

Gjerde

Schmid

Hammar

et al. 2013

J Neurodevelop Disord

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“…Temporal ACs have been linked to delayed psychomotor development, seizures, headache, hydrocephalus, and cranial deformation [4]. Additionally, in case series, temporal cysts have been associated with dizziness, decreased visuospatial orientation, imbalance, as well as impairment of higher cognitive functions such as memory [4][5][6][7].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cognition in Children with Arachnoid Cysts

Sandvik

Adolfsson

Jacobson

et al. 2020

JCM

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Background: This study aims to evaluate if children with temporal arachnoid cysts (AC) have cognitive symptoms and if neurosurgery improves these. Methods: A prospective case series study including consecutive pediatric patients with temporal AC. The children underwent neuroradiology, neuroopthalmologic evaluation, and a standard electroencephalography (EEG). Additionally, a neuropsychologist performed a standardized set of evaluations, with a one-year follow-up consisting of Weschler Intelligence Scale for Children version IV (WISC-IV), FAS (for verbal fluency), Boston Naming Test (BNT, for visual naming ability) and NEPSY-II (Developmental NEuroPSYchological Assessment) for verbal memory. Results: Fifteen children, 9 boys and 6 girls, were evaluated and 11 underwent surgery. The Full Scale IQ subscore (FSIQ) improved from M = 84.8 to M = 93.0 (p = 0.005). The preoperative Verbal Comprehension Index (VCI) was in the low average range (M = 86.7), improving to a level within the average range (M = 94.7, p = 0.001). Preoperative Perceptual Speed Index (PSI) was in the below average range (M = 81.5), improving to a level within the average range (M = 92.5, p = 0.004). Conclusion: ACs are a common finding in a pediatric neurosurgical setting. Our data suggest that some temporal AC have a negative effect on general cognitive ability and that this impairment can be improved by surgery. We suggest a standardized evaluation, including comprehensive and validated neuropsychological assessment tools, to thoroughly assess symptoms as well as the postoperative outcome.

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“…Temporal cysts may cause a variety of symptoms, most commonly headache, and surgical cyst decompression may decrease or eliminate these symptoms, as shown both in children and in adults . Temporal AC have also been demonstrated to yield dyscognition that appears to normalize after surgical cyst decompression .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%