Publicación Oficial de la Sociedad Ecuatoriana de Neurología, de la Liga Ecuatoriana Contra la Epilepsia y de la Sociedad Iberoamericana de Enfermedad Cerebrovascular

evaluación neuropsicológica

 

Neuropsychological and brain atrophy pattern characterization in patients with stroke related to COVID infection: A systematic review. Caracterización neuropsicológica y del patrón de atrofia cerebral en pacientes con ictus relacionado a COVID: Una revisión sistemática.

Introduction: The high mortality rates in patients with COVID infection have been the main focus of interest in clinical and research practice. COVID infection has also been characterized by its respiratory consequences; however, several studies have reported neurological manifestations in this clinical population (e.g., stroke). From a neurological perspective, patients with stroke related to COVID infection remain challenging as well. No systematic reviews have yet focused on neuropsychological and neuroanatomical correlate profiles.

Aim: To characterize the neuropsychological profile and the pattern of brain areas affected in adult and older adults with stroke related to COVID infection.

Methods: The present study followed the PRISMA guidelines and included studies from the PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Sciences databases, published between January 2020 and September 2022.

Results: 7 articles were included in this systematic review for critical analysis. Ischemic stroke was the most reported in patients. Results suggest that the most reported neuropsychological declines are orientation, attention, memory, executive function, visuoconstructive skills, and language. The pattern of brain areas also considers right lesions in cortical and subcortical regions.

Conclusion: In patients with COVID-related strokes, lesions in the left hemisphere or bilateral are common, together with the expression of aphasia. Likewise, our findings reflect only ischemic patients’ cognitive and brain features. Therefore, results must be interpreted carefully.

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Palabras clave: Atrofia Cerebral, Correlato neuroanatómico, COVID-19, diagnóstico, evaluación neuropsicológica, Ictus,

Keywords: Atrophy pattern, COVID-19, diagnosis, Neuroanatomical Correlate, Neuropsychological assessment, stroke,

Perfiles cognitivos-lingüísticos en personas mayores con Deterioro Cognitivo Leve, Demencia Vascular, Demencia con Cuerpos de Lewy y Enfermedad de Parkinson. Cognitive-linguistic profiles in older people with Mild Cognitive Impairment, Vascular Dementia, Dementia with Lewy Bodies and Parkinson’s Disease

Introduction: There is a wide heterogeneity of neuropsychological symptoms reported in pathological ageing. Current research has focused on patients with Alzheimer’s disease and frontotemporal dementia. However, still no detailed knowledge of the cognitive-linguistic profiles in patients whit Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) and other forms of dementia.

Objective: To characterize cognitive and linguistic profiles in older people with MCI, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and Parkinson’s disease.

Methods: The present study followed the PRISMA guidelines and included studies from the PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases, published between 2000 and 2020.

Results: 49 articles were included in this literature review for critical analysis. Older people with MCI, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and Parkinson’s disease shows a significant decline in the following cognitive domains: memory, executive function, attention, and visuospatial/visuoconstructive skills. However, linguistic symptoms are also reported, especially the deficit in verbal fluency (semantic and phonological) and syntactic-grammatical and discursive skills.

Conclusion: This literature review characterized cognitive-linguistic profiles in older people with MCI, vascular dementia, Lewy body dementia, and Parkinson’s disease. These profiles could be helpful in clinical practice to improve early neuropsychological assessment processes and even determin e differential diagnoses between these clinical conditions.

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Palabras clave: Cognición, demencia, Deterioro Lingüístico, Disfunción cognitiva, evaluación neuropsicológica,

Keywords: Cognition, Cognitive Dysfunction, dementia, language impairment, Neuropsychological assessment,

Uso de la Escala de Inteligencia de Adultos de Wechsler-IV para la evaluación neuropsicológicas en Ecuador. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV for use in Neuropsychological Assessments in Ecuador

An important part of cognitive status evaluation is the determination of general cognitive ability. However, the most common tests are not standardized for use in Ecuador. This has limited the extent and accuracy of clinical neuropsychological assessments within the country. We used the 7-subtest Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale-IV (WAIS-IV) with 155 mainly city-living Ecuadorian adults, recruited from a range of socioeconomic backgrounds around 4 different sites in Ecuador. The sample was matched to the Ecuadorian urban population for gender, education, and ethnicity. We show that this version of the WAIS-IV is a reliable and valid assessment for this context. In addition, we provide a method to adjust standard scores derived from the Spanish population, and used in the WAIS-IV manual, so that they are more appropriate for use in Ecuador. These can potentially be used to calculate full IQ scores. We also describe methods of comparing the Ecuador-adjusted standard scores so that they can be used in clinical neuropsychological evaluations of Ecuadorian adults.

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Palabras clave: CI, evaluación cognitiva, evaluación neuropsicológica, inteligencia, neuropsicología,

Keywords: cognitive assessment, intelligence, IQ, Neuropsychological assessment, neuropsychology,

Evaluación de las Habilidades de la Corteza Prefrontal: La Escala Efeco II-VC y II-VR. Evaluation Of The Skills Of The Prefrontal Cortex: The Efeco II-VC And II-VR.

The pre-frontal cortex is the basis of the most complex mental abilities of human development. In its evaluation process, the EFECO scale provides an important contribution to assess its status. In previous investigations this scale has been studied with its configuration of 67 items, narrative focused on the deficit and evaluation of 8 executive functions. This research presents a new version of the scale, centered on its narrative in executive ability, proposed items to assess executive verification function and a summarized version of 42 items. The study included 118 healthy adults between 18 and 25 years of age (Mage = 20.72, SD = 1.65). In the results it was found that the EFECO II-VC scale (modified and complete version) obtained as internal consistency α = .96 and its sub-scales internal consistency between α = .64 and .81. The EFECO II-VR scale (modified and summarized version) obtained α = .94 and its sub-scales between α = .68 and .79. The internal consistency of the factors in which the executive functions are included were adequate: the supervisory system of cognition II-VC α = .93 and II-VR α = .70, while the supervisor system of behavior II- VC α = .93 and II-VR α = .81. The correlations between the executive functions assessed with both scales were between medium and large r = .36 and .94. The work is closed discussing the clinical and scientific contribution of the modification of the EFECO scale.

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Palabras clave: Corteza prefrontal, escala EFECO, evaluación neuropsicológica, Funciones Ejecutivas,

Keywords: EFECO scale, Executive functions, Neuropsychological Evaluation, Prefrontal cortex,

Batería Neuropsicológica Set de Datos Uniformes (UDS) Para la Evaluación de Enfermedad de Alzheimer y Deterioro Cognitivo Leve: Una Revisión Sistemática. Neuropsychological Battery Uniform Data Set (Uds) For The Evaluation Of Alzheimer’s Disease And Mild Cognitive Impairment: A Systematic Review.

The neuropsychological battery UDS (of the English Uniform Data Set), is used worldwide to homogenize the investigations of Alzheimer’s disease. Objective: Quantitatively synthesize the results of the subtests of the UDS for the cognitive profile of controls, patients with mild cognitive impairment and dementia of the Alzheimer type. Method: An advanced and manual systematic search was performed in databases (PubMed / MedLine, Web of Science, Scopus, Lilacs, Science Direct, Cochrane Library, PsycINFO) evaluating the diagnostic performance of the UDS. Results: The systematic review showed a narrative synthesis where 8 articles were included that included 9260 subjects, with an age range between 60 and 90 years. The quantitative synthesis used 13 articles with a total sample of 2,884 participants, with an average age of 74 years and an average of 15 years of education. Conclusion: We described a synthesis of the medial scores, which generate cut-off points for Alzheimer’s type dementia (DTA), mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and cognitively normal controls, evidencing an adequate diagnostic precession.

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Palabras clave: Alzheimer, demencia, Detección, Deterioro Cognitivo Leve, evaluación neuropsicológica, Revisión Sistemática, Uniform Data Set,

Keywords: Alzheimer’s Disease, assessment, Detection, Mild Cognitive Impairment, Neuropsychological Battery, Systematic Review, Uniform Data Set,

Evaluación Neuropsicológica del Control Inhibitorio y el Control de la Interferencia: Validación de Tareas Experimentales en el Contexto Ecuatoriano. Neuropsychological Evaluation Of Inhibitory Control And Interference Control: Validation Of Experimental Tasks In The Ecuadorian Context.

In this article we report a study in which three experimental tasks (SIMON, Go / No-Go and Stroop Victoria) were adapted and validated to evaluate the inhibitory control and interference control in a sample of Ecuadorian students. The sample consisted of 100 students between 6 and 15 years old (M = 10.13 years, SD = 2.48) belonging to the public education system of Ecuador. The process followed in the adaptation and validation was through the linguistic translation of the experiments, followed by an expert judgment and a pilot study. In the results it was found that there are no statistically significant differences in the measures that assess the inhibitory control and the interference considering the sociodemographic variables of the participants as comparison factors. In the correlation analysis we found a statistically significant association between the measurements of the experiments. We conclude by analyzing the associations found and underlining the need to continue providing evidence in the research line of adaptation and validation of test for using in neuropsychological evaluation.

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Palabras clave: control inhibitorio, evaluación neuropsicológica, GO/NO-GO, SIMON, STROOP,

Keywords: GO / NO-GO, inhibitory control, Neuropsychological Evaluation, SIMON, STROOP,

Conceptos Fundamentales en la Teoría Neuropsicológica. Fundamental Concepts In The Neuropsychological Theory.

This article presents three concepts that are fundamental in the neuropsychological theoretical: (a) historical data in the study of the human brain, (b) neuropsychological evaluation of brain functions and (c) neuropsychological rehabilitation of brain functions. As relevant data in the theoretical development of the study of the human brain is a tour of the trepanation acts performed hundreds of years ago, the contributions of phrenology, the masterful findings of Broca and Wernicke, the heuristic contribution of Luria and the current revolution with the neuro-image. In the neuropsychological evaluation of brain functions, the role of specific, non-specific and delayed observation tests in the interpretation of the neuropsychological state of the human being is analyzed, which allow analyzing neuropsychological functions in the laboratory and in real lifeactivities. Finally, we analyze the process of neuropsychological rehabilitation of brain functions, where mention is made of the processes of restoration, compensation, substitution, activation-stimulation and integration, which are very useful when intervening in a brain that has suffered an acquired damage. It is concluded that the current accelerated pace has determined the advance of neuroscience, where technology and the forceful scientific contribution propose new techniques and theories to understand the processes of evaluation and rehabilitation of brain functioning.

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Palabras clave: cerebro humano, Desarrollo teórico, estudio, evaluación neuropsicológica, neurociencia, rehabilitación neuropsicológica,

Keywords: human brain, Neuropsychological Evaluation, neuropsychological rehabilitation, neuroscience, Theoretical development study,

La evaluación neuropsicológica en la Cirugía de Epilepsia.

Since the decade of the sixties objective systems of evaluation of the superior functions have been developed with the purpose of being able to establish the cognitive state from the patients candidates to epilepsy surgery, for that, the neuropsychological evaluation is made by means of the use of suitable instruments that allows to identify the cerebral dysfunction and taking into account the following aspects: a) to establish the global cognitive state, b) to guide in the lateralization of the cerebral dysfunction, c) to predict the risk of deterioration or cognitive improvement, with base in the preserved functions and in the altered functions, and d) after the surgery, to describe the patient’s cognitive state by means of periodic evaluations, with the purpose of having an evolutionary control of the neuropsychological functioning, providing in a precise and integrated way the effects that the surgical intervention produces in the cognitive functioning of the patients. The neuropsychological evaluation is an integrated process that requires of several hours to be completed, for that, it is important that this is carried out without the previous knowledge of the discoveries of image and/or electroencephalographic methods, since this could slant the exploration and the results, when it is not possible the identification of other possible cognitive alterations, or, one runs the risk of supposing the existence of cerebral pathology where there is not. In this article the theoretical-methodological aspects of the neuropsychological exploration are described in the area of epilepsy surgery.

 

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Palabras clave: Cirugía de epilepsia, evaluación neuropsicológica, Funciones cognoscitivas, Lateralización del foco epiléptico, Lenguaje,

Keywords: Cognitive Functions, Epilepsy Surgery, Language, Lateralization of the Epileptogenic Foci, Neuropsychological Evaluation,

Aspectos Neuropsicológicos de la Resonancia Magnética Funcional.

Cognitive neuropsychology and functional magnetic resonance (RMf) have marked a particularly fertile period in the development of neurosciences. Their clinical value, although incipient, is unquestionable. Integration of these two disciplines allows the registration  of cerebral images related to the neuronal activation of specific areas, providing structural and functional information of the human brain  under normal and pathological conditions. The RMf has important clinical and research applications. For example, pointing the brain  areas needed to be avoided during surgery, or observing the neurofunctional changes that take place with a  pharmacological treatment or neuropsychological rehabilitation. It also permits increasing the knowledge of  neurofunctional bases of different cerebral pathologies. It  is of special interest and importance the selection and implementation of the activation paradigm on functions to be studied, condition that  is required for the correct interpretation of the results. The procedure for RMf allows the study of a specific component in the  cognitive process in response to a specific task. It doesn’t identify the function as a unique feature, but it  identifies neurofunctional patterns. In this  article, the basic theoretical-methodological neuropsychological aspects are described for the implementation of studies by RMf.

 

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Palabras clave: Entrevista, evaluación neuropsicológica, Neuropsicología cognitiva, Paradigma, Patrones  neurofuncionales, resonancia magnética funcional,

Keywords: Cognitive neuropsychology, functional magnetic resonance, Interview, Neurofunctional pattern, Neuropsychological Evaluation, Paradigm,

The Impact of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Neuropsychology, Depression and Anxiety. A Case-Control Study, with 90 Portuguese Female Subjects.

Objectives: The study of the impact of Rheumatoid Arthritis in cognitive functions has not been well documented in Portugal. So, with this original article we tried to clarify this reality in this particular country.

Methods: We assessed the results of 45 Rheumatoid Arthritis female patients (intervention group), comparing each patient in a case control paired strategy (years in school and age), with control subjects (n = 45, in a total of 90 subjects). All subjects were evaluated with Paced Auditory Selective Attention Test, Word List Generation Test, Luria Nebraska Neuropsychological Battery, a Portuguese depression screening test (IACLIDE), STAI (anxiety trace and trait test) and the Mini Mental state examination.

Results: The results show, for the first time in Portuguese patients, the presence of major deficits in terms of cognitive function and symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Conclusion: This article strengthens the argument of the necessity to pay attention in psycho-educational, psychotherapeutic and cognitive stimulation as well as neuropsychological intervention in these types of patients.

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Palabras clave: ansiedad, depresión, enfermedades inflamatorias reumáticas, evaluación neuropsicológica,

Keywords: anxiety, depression, inflammatory rheumatic diseases, Neuropsychological assessment,
 
 
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