ABSTRACT
Evidence from recent studies about the epidemiology of panic disorder (PD) indicates that it is present in 4.7% of general population. In Mexico City, 2.9% of females and 1.9% of males are affected by this disease. Due to the incidence cited above, it is considered an important mental health problem that has impacted social, labor and familiar areas. On the other hand, PD is frequently present in comorbidity with other disorders like major depression, social phobia and generalized anxiety disorder. Moreover, in some cases, it may lead to a suicide risk. PD is characterized by recurrent, unexpected panic attacks, and is commonly associated with agoraphobia. A panic attack is defined as a discrete period of fear or discomfort that includes physical, cognitive and behavioral symptoms. Physical symptoms comprise short breath, palpitations, sweating, dizziness, gastrointestinal discomfort, and chest pain. Cognitive symptoms are associated with catastrophic interpretation of bodily sensations; behavioral symptoms are mainly avoidant of different places, situations and actions that patient had associated with fear of loss of control. In the past few years there has been a growing interest in the neuropsychology of anxiety disorders. Neuropsychological evaluation is relevant because it implies an objective assessment of the cognitive and behavioral abilities and weaknesses that make possible the prediction of the course of the disorder and the effects of treatment modalities. One of the most important contributions of neuropsychological evaluation is the identification of stable patterns of cognitive profiles of a specific disorder considered as neurocognitive endophenotypes. Some recent studies have demonstrated the relationship between neuropsychological alterations and anxiety; nevertheless, most of them were observed in obsessive-compulsive disorder patients. On the other hand, studies examining neuropsychological functioning in PD patients are scarce and report conflicting results. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate whether PD patients with and without agoraphobia, who attended the National Institute of Psychiatry <
De acuerdo a Kessler, el 4.7% de la población general presenta Trastorno de Pánico (TP) a lo largo de la vida, específicamente en la Ciudad de México el TP tiene una prevalencia en la vida de 1.1% en los hombres y de 2.5% en las mujeres, por lo que se considera un problema de gran relevancia. Aunado a esto, uno de los grandes problemas de este padecimiento es el alto índice de comorbilidad que presenta con otros trastornos psiquiátricos como la depresión mayor, la fobia social, el trastorno por ansiedad generalizada y el abuso de sustancias. De acuerdo con el DSM-IV-TR, el TP se caracteriza por la aparición de crisis de angustia inesperadas y recurrentes, inquietud persistente por la posibilidad de tener más crisis, preocupación por las implicaciones de las mismas o sus consecuencias y/o un cambio significativo del comportamiento relacionado con ellas. La evaluación neuropsicológica es relevante, ya que a través de ésta es posible obtener una valoración objetiva que permite conocer las habilidades y déficits cognoscitivos y conductuales de los pacientes con trastornos psiquiátricos para hacer una predicción sobre el curso de la enfermedad, elegir el tipo de tratamiento de forma objetiva, identificar patrones estables de déficits neuropsicológicos así como establecer estrategias que mejoren el pronóstico del trastorno. Diversos estudios han demostrado recientemente la relación entre algunas alteraciones neuropsicológicas y la ansiedad; sin embargo, la mayoría de éstos se han centrado en el trastorno obsesivo-compulsivo. Aunado a esto, los resultados encontrados en investigaciones que han evaluado las funciones cognitivas en el TP, no han sido consistentes. El objetivo del presente estudio fue determinar si existen déficits neuropsicológicos en pacientes diagnosticados con TP con o sin agorafobia que acudieron al servicio de preconsulta del Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente, en comparación con sujetos control en los dominios de atención, memoria y funciones ejecutivas. Se seleccionaron dos grupos: uno de 24 sujetos diagnosticados con TP, de acuerdo al DSM-IV-TR, sin tratamiento farmacológico y/o psicoterapéutico previo; y otro de 24 sujetos sanos comparados formando pares por sexo, edad y escolaridad con el primero. Se les aplicó una batería neuropsicológica (Neuropsi Atención y Memoria) que evalúa orientación, atención y concentración, memoria de trabajo, memoria verbal y visual, y funciones ejecutivas y motoras. El Neuropsi Atención y Memoria cuenta con normas obtenidas en la población mexicana, considerando la edad y la escolaridad. Las diferencias en el desempeño cognitivo entre el grupo control y el grupo con TP fueron analizadas por medio de un Análisis de Varianza (con p<0.05). Los resultados mostraron que los sujetos con TP puntuaron significativamente más bajo que los controles en el puntaje total de atención y memoria, en el puntaje del total de atención y funciones ejecutivas, y el total de memoria. El análisis de las subpruebas específicas reveló déficits en la memoria verbal, la memoria visoespacial inmediata y la evocada, y en diversas funciones ejecutivas: formación de categorías, fluidez verbal semántica y fonológica, y fluidez no verbal. Los hallazgos encontrados en este estudio apoyan la noción de que la ansiedad (específicamente el TP) afecta la memoria verbal y la visoespacial así como las funciones ejecutivas. Los pacientes con TP mostraron alteraciones significativas en tareas que requieren de la capacidad de cambiar de foco de atención, flexibilidad en los procesos cognitivos, capacidad de inhibir respuestas inadecuadas, memoria a corto plazo y memoria de trabajo.
ABSTRACT
Persistent neuropsychological deficits have been reported in adult bipolar affective disorder, and impairments in executive functions, attention, verbal learning and memory, are postulated as neurocognitive endophenotypes. However, there is a lack of information about the neuropsychological functioning in Pediatric Bipolar Disorder (PBD). Hence, it is important to study this pediatric disorder because it could help, in first place, to clarify if children and adolescents with this disorder have neurocognitive impairments and secondly to analyze if the neuropsychological impairments in PBD are alike to those reported in adults. Neuropsychological characterization of PBD has been complicated because it has a 60%-90% comorbidity with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Several studies have reported ADHD neuropsychological impairment in executive functions, sustained attention and working memory. Meanwhile, few studies in PBD have reported impairments in vigilance, working memory, interference control, speed processing, abstract problem solving and verbal learning. Yet, it is unknown if these deficiencies are distinct to the ones reported in ADHD or if they are a more severe manifestation of the same deficits. The objective of the present study was to assess the neuropsychological functioning of PBD by means of a battery of tests to analyze the capacities of complex problem solving, abstract reasoning and planning. We seeked if PBD presents other neuropsychological impairments beyond executive functions, verbal learning and memory, and attention that have been reported in adults with this disorder. Two groups were assessed, the first one included fourteen adolescent patients with PBD in euthimic phase, the other group consisted of eleven asyntomatic adolescents selected by means of absence of bipolar, affective, psychotic or neurodevelopmental disorders. Each participant was evaluated by certified neuropsychologists during three sessions of one hour each. As study variables we considered the general capacity for complex problem solving measured by subtest of the Intelligence Scales of Wechsler (WAIS or WISC-R) that were administered and qualified according to Lezak's proposals. We also assessed abstract reasoning, cognitive flexibility and planning measured by the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST) and Tower of London Drexel University (TOL DX). Results were analized with SPSS 11 program using U Mann-Whitney test with statistic significance at p <0.05 and <0.01. The results obtained, showed that adolescents with PBD had impairments in neuropsychological functioning. Some of the deficits are alike the impairments reported in adults with bipolar disorder, specially in tasks that involve executive funcioning like working memory and planning. Besides, we detected impairments in other neuropsychological measures that are associated with complex problem solving capacities that no other studies have reported, suggesting that PBD show neuropsychological impairments that go beyond those reported in adult patients. Capacities for complex problem solving were related to diminished scores for Wechsler's subtests of information, vocabulary, similarities, comprehension, picture completion, block designs and digit symbol. These subtests are associated with language abilities, concept formation, verbal reasoning, visual reasoning and speed of information processing. Although in our study adolecents with PBD scored within the normal range on Intellectual Quotient (IQ) full, verbal and executive scales, analysis showed statistical differences when compared to control group, suggesting a potentially more insidious impact of the early onset of the disorder on overall cognitive functioning. This impact can directly affect through disease evolves, or indirectly disrupting academic functioning. PBD group also differed from control group on variables that measured executive functions like planning and working memory as could be seen in Digit Span Wechsler's subtests and TOL 's total move, total rule violation and total execution time variables. Explanation of deficits could involve problems with speed processing, given the lower scores obtained on Wechsler's digit-symbol substitution subtest; or with executive deficits, such as organization and problem solving ruled out by working memory and language reasoning. Whatever the explanation could be, our data contributes to the possibility of a continuity of domains of neuropsychological impairment in people with early and later onset of bipolar disorder, although direct comparison of such groups is necessary in future studies. As such, these neuropsychological findings also could provide support for the validity of the differential diagnosis in children and adolescents with bipolar disorder. The neuropsychological impairments found in our research are consistent with the behavioral dyscontrol, poor frustration tolerance and impulsive aggression that are characteristic of PBD. It is proposed that the ability to regulate attention has implications for emotional regulation, meanwhile verbal reasoning deficits may reflect difficulties with effortful semantic processing, and impairments in executive functions such as working memory and planning, contribute to self-control and completion of goal-directed behavior. Together, deficits in these domains may impair the ability of PBD to attend to cues in the environment that assist the regulation of emotion and arousal, and to limit the ability for identifying and implementing novel and prosocial options for behavior by processing efficiently cues that are presented and ignore emotionally salient or distracting stimuly. It is important to point out that not all capacities for complex problem solving were impaired in PBD. There were no differences in Wechsler's subtests of object assembly, picture arrangement or arithmetic, neither differences were observed in TOL's variables of total correct, total time violation, total problem-solving or none of WCST variables. These findings can be associated with preserved capacities for set shifting, abstract reasoning, interference control, arithmetic reasoning, sequencing thinking, interpretation of socio-emotional clues and visuo-spatial planning. However, more work is needed to elucidate the meaning of this preserved capacities and how they interact with the impairments already discussed. In this sense, it is possible to speculate that although the impairments already described can influence on academic functioning, the preserved capacities might exert an important role in the regulation of adaptive behavior. As a conclusion, our data indicate neuropsychological deficits in youth with PBD in domains of executive functioning and capacities for general problem solving. These findings add to a growing body of work documenting the presence of neurocognitive underpinnings of bipolar disorder in adolescents. Data suggests that measures of verbal reasoning, visual reasoning, speed processing, working memory and planning might be explored further in future functional neuroimaging studies of PBD.
Los estudios neuropsicológicos del trastorno bipolar en adultos han señalado alteraciones en las funciones ejecutivas, mnésicas y atencionales como endofenotipos neurocognitivos del trastorno. Sin embargo, se conoce poco sobre la caracterización neuropsicológica del Trastorno Bipolar Pediátrico (TBPP), misma que ha sido complicada dado que existe una comorbilidad del 60%-90% con el Trastorno por Déficit de Atención con Hiperactividad (TDAH). Así, desde la perspectiva neuropsicológica, el TBPP ha sido poco estudiado. Existen algunas investigaciones que no reportan alteraciones neurocognitivas, y otras reportan deficiencias en tareas de vigilancia, memoria de trabajo, control de interferencia, velocidad de procesamiento, solución de problemas abstractos y aprendizaje verbal. Sin embargo, aún se desconoce si estas deficiencias son distintas a las observadas en el TDAH, o si son formas más severas de las mismas alteraciones del TDAH. Por lo tanto, el objetivo del presente estudio fue evaluar el funcionamiento neuropsicológico del TBPP por medio de una batería de pruebas integrada para analizar las capacidades en la solución de problemas complejos, razonamiento abstracto y habilidades de planeación. Esto con la finalidad de valorar si el TBPP cursa con otras alteraciones neuropsicológicas, más allá de la esfera de la atención, memoria y del funcionamiento ejecutivo, como se han descrito hasta el momento en adultos con trastorno bipolar. Así, se comparó el funcionamiento neurocognitivo en un grupo de 14 pacientes adolescentes con diagnóstico de TBPP en fase de eutímia y un grupo control de 11 adolescentes asintomáticos. Además, se consideraron como variables del estudio la capacidad general para solucionar problemas, medida por medio de las subpruebas de las Escalas de Inteligencia de Wechsler, así como las habilidades de razonamiento abstracto, flexibilidad cognoscitiva y planeación, medidos con el Test de Clasificación de Tarjetas de Wisconsin y la Torre de Londres Drexel University. Los resultados señalaron que los adolescentes con TBPP presentan alteraciones en el funcionamiento neuropsicológico. Algunas de las deficiencias encontradas son parecidas a las alteraciones reportadas en adultos, especialmente ante tareas que involucran funciones ejecutivas como la memoria de trabajo y la planeación. Además de esto, se detectaron alteraciones en otras mediciones neuropsicológicas que implican la capacidad para solucionar problemas complejos y que no han sido reportadas en estudios previos. Al evaluar la capacidad general para solucionar problemas, se encontraron alteraciones en las habilidades de lenguaje, formación de conceptos, razonamiento verbal, razonamiento visual práctico/ conceptual, análisis-síntesis visual y velocidad de procesamiento. También se observaron deficiencias en las funciones ejecutivas que involucran la planeación y la memoria de trabajo. De tal manera, que nuestros datos ofrecen la posibilidad de plantear una continuidad en la alteración de las funciones ejecutivas en el trastorno bipolar tanto de inicio temprano como en el tardío. Estos hallazgos también pueden considerarse un apoyo para la validez del diagnóstico diferencial del trastorno bipolar en adolescentes. Como conclusión, podemos señalar que nuestros resultados son consistentes con la bibliografía en general al indicar que existen deficiencias neuropsicológicas en adolescentes con TBPP, al tiempo que se mencionan otras alteraciones no descritas con anterioridad. Estas deficiencias involucran el funcionamiento ejecutivo y otros dominios cognitivos que influyen sobre la capacidad general para solucionar problemas. Además, se sugiere que las mediciones que involucran el razonamiento verbal, razonamiento visual, velocidad de procesamiento, memoria de trabajo y planeación podrían examinarse con mayor detenimiento en futuros estudios de neuroimagen funcional en el TBPP.
ABSTRACT
SUMMARY: Since the decade of the seventies, several neuropsychological abnormalities in very different cognitive domains have been described among patients with Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). Due to the nature of these abnormalities, it was concluded that possibly the main dysfunction for this disorder was located in the right hemisphere, especially in the frontal cortex; nevertheless this particular brain region was found to be involved in other psychiatric disorders, so neuropsychological results were considered to be of limited precision and it was thought that the diversity in results was not due to the malfunction of one particular brain region. So it became evident that a new research methodology based in the information processing model with highly specific neuropsychological paradigms of frontal functioning was needed; as well as considering a subtypology based in the cognitive characteristics in patients with the same disorder and similar phenomenology. Regarding OCD it is well known that the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex is in charge of the regulation of complex actions, executive functions and the elaboration of logical strategies in a problem solving task; so its dysfunction causes a failure in the creation of response patterns and perseverations due to the inability to change a pattern when an alternative response is needed. On the other hand, obsessions are associated mainly with the anterior cingulated cortex and the basal region of the corpus striatum and its connections with the limbic system, giving place to incapacity to select the relevant information from the environment, which makes the individual perceive irrelevant stimuli as threatening for physical integrity. By the way, some clinical subtypes have also been identified: contamination/washing, aggressiveness/checking, hoarding, symmetry/ order. There is also some evidence of different patterns of brain activation to several visual stimuli related to the obsessive or compulsive object in the clinical subtypes, as shown by functional magnetic resonance image in some regions of the frontal lobe, either dorsolateral, medial or basal and its connections with the basal ganglia, and in some cases thalamus or limbic system. In the face of all this evidence, the goal of the present study was to find if within this disorder it was possible, through several neuropsychological paradigms of frontal functioning, to find different patterns of execution, considering the clinical subtype and the severity of obsessions and compulsions. Fifty-eight patients with a diagnosis of OCD were studied; all patients were under treatment at the OCD clinic of the National Institute of Psychiatry Ramón de la Fuente in Mexico City. Two neuropsychological tests were administered: 1) Trail Making Test (TMT) and 2) Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST). From the Target Symptom List, the clinical subtype was obtained. After the statistical analysis, we found no differences between the severity of obsessions and the severity of compulsions as measured by the Yale-Brown Scale. Also, we observed three factors concerning the neuropsychological tests, and patients were grouped in four different groups, each one with a distinct cognitive performance. Through the interpretation of results it was concluded that in a sample of 58 patients with OCD, different groups of neuropsychological functioning where distinguished. In their own, these groups where associated with different clinical subtypes. These results are in accordance with the neurobiological modular organization model of OCD, which sustains the existence of independent systems of cognitive dysfunction that regulate different symptomatic expressions.
RESUMEN: La metodología de investigación, a partir del modelo del procesamiento de información con paradigmas neuropsicológicos de funcionamiento del lóbulo frontal, permite un estudio más específico de los trastornos psiquiátricos con fenomenología parecida, lo que a su vez permite crear modelos basados en una subtipología de índole cognoscitiva y, por ende, lleva al conocimiento de los circuitos neurales involucrados en la manifestación clínica de estos padecimientos. En el caso del trastorno obsesivo-compulsivo (TOC), la corteza prefrontal dorsolateral se encarga de regular las acciones complejas, las funciones ejecutivas y la elaboración de estrategias lógicas en la resolución de problemas, de tal manera que su mal funcionamiento ocasiona fallas en la creación de patrones de respuesta y perseveraciones por incapacidad de cambiar de patrón cuando se requiere otra alternativa de respuesta. Por otra parte, las obsesiones se relacionan predominantemente con el cíngulo anterior y la parte basal del cuerpo estriado y de sus conexiones con el sistema límbico, dando lugar a la incapacidad para seleccionar la información relevante del entorno. Esto genera que el individuo perciba los estímulos inocuos como "amenazantes" para la integridad física. También se han identificado subtipos clínicos de obsesiones y compulsiones, tales como contaminación, lavado, agresividad, comprobación, atesoramiento, simetría y de orden, entre otros, que se han relacionado con distintos patrones de transmisión genética, comorbilidad y respuesta a tratamiento. Además, se han documentado distintos patrones de aumento o disminución, ya sea de metabolismo cerebral o de flujo sanguíneo, en los circuitos fronto- estriados. Con la resonancia magnética funcional también se han encontrado distintos patrones de activación en los circuitos neuronales entre distintos subtipos clínicos, mediante la exposición de imágenes que se relacionan con el contenido de la obsesión o bien con la acción de la compulsión. Ante esta evidencia, se decidió averiguar si en pacientes con este trastorno era posible encontrar, mediante distintos paradigmas neuropsicológicos de funcionamiento frontal, dichos patrones diferenciales, considerando tanto el subtipo clínico como la gravedad de las obsesiones y compulsiones. En este estudio participaron 58 pacientes con este diagnóstico pertenecientes a la Clínica de TOC del Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente, de los que 24 eran mujeres y 34, hombres. Una vez que los psiquiatras adscritos a dicha clínica confirmaban el diagnóstico obtenido en la cita de primera vez, referían a los pacientes al programa para computadora de Diagnóstico Neuropsicológico Automatizado (DIANA). Se aplicaron en una sola sesión las siguientes pruebas: 1) Trazado con Hitos (TH) y 2) Test de Categorización de Tarjetas de Wisconsin (TCTW). Con posterioridad a la aplicación de las pruebas a todos los pacientes, se revisó cada uno de los expedientes de la clínica de TOC para obtener el subtipo clínico. En el análisis estadístico de los datos se realizó primero un análisis factorial para disminuir el número de variables y luego un análisis de conglomerados para ver si se formaban grupos conforme a la ejecución de los sujetos en las pruebas aplicadas. De acuerdo con la ejecución de los pacientes se observó que los sujetos se agruparon en cuatro grupos distintos de desempeño cognoscitivo: el primero tuvo una ejecución muy deficiente en ambas pruebas. El segundo exhibió un desempeño regular en las dos pruebas pero fue mas rápido para terminar el TH. El tercero sólo estuvo constituido por dos pacientes que tuvieron un desempeño muy diferente al del resto, al presentar una ejecución sobresaliente en WCST pero con gran cantidad de errores en el TH. En tanto, en el cuarto de estos grupos, donde se concentraba la mayoría de la muestra, se consideró que su ejecución fue la más característica y su desempeño en ambas pruebas regular, pero más lento en TH. Cada uno de estos grupos de funcionamiento neuropsicológico se relacionó con los distintos subtipos de obsesiones y compulsiones, mas no con su gravedad. Encontrar subtipos neuropsicológicos de TOC asociados a sintomatología clínica distinta presta apoyo al modelo de organización modular de los diferentes circuitos neurales que intervienen en la manifestación sintomática de este padecimiento.
ABSTRACT
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Abstract: Neuropsychology, as a part of cognitive neurosciences should be incorporated to the process of evaluation of any patient considered to be needing psychiatric neurosurgery, in order to obtain objective information of the processes and functions that shape each one's cognitive system and of the changes that may take place after surgery. To attain this objective, the neuropsychologist doing the evaluation should be experienced in assessing patients with psychiatric disorders, as it is necessary to have a deep knowledge not only of the clinical characteristics of these ailments but also of the information processing models that typify each entity. Thus, by making an evaluation within a conceptual and empirical frame, an adequate interpretation of the results may be attained. At the same time it is necessary to know the neurochirugical techniques being applied in each case and also to be aware of the possible side effects that may take place. The need for this type of assessments is due to two reasons: to find the possible damage that surgery may cause and to consider the improvement that follows the decrease of clinical symptoms. The previous two facts are associated to clinical improvement as both have different temporal courses. The first will produce a behavioural effect more evident during the first post operative year while at further stages, the second will be made more evident with the decrease of clinical symptoms, thus reflecting on the neuropsychological performance. Another possibility to be considered in this type of cases is that the cerebral systems related with psychopathology as well as those underlying executive and cognitive performance will be distributed differently in the brain and, therefore, with this kind of treatment they will be affected in a different way, this makes it necessary to do not only previous but subsequent evaluations in order to asses accurately the changes in the cognitive processes. Also, should there be found more severe neuropsychological alterations than those expected for a specific psychiatric disorder, there is a risk of increasing post operative changes because any adverse surgical effect may interact or be added to the cognitive failures that typify the illness and, thus, prognosis will be worsened. Regarding the most relevant research on this field, Dougherty et al. report that 20% of their 44 patients with obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD) mentioned at least one adverse effect; of these patients 5% reported a loss of memory that was corrected after six to 12 months. Among the writings that include neuropsychological evaluation as such, it was found that Nyman's group in Sweden, proposes that, independently form the neurosurgical technique used in patients with OCD, the main objective of the operation is to counteract the lack of balance between the frontal sector and the sub cortical regions, as well as that of the basal nuclei and the limbic structures. Therefore, as a proposal, they explore the functions pertaining to the frontal region because they believe that following surgery there must be failures in this area. This belief is also based on a previous research in which they found that five from ten patients presented after surgery a larger number of preservative answers in the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), a fact that points out a dysfunction in the encephalon's anterior sector. Nevertheless, they consider that this preservative pattern of responses in the WCST is not permanent; on the contrary, there is improvement after capsulotomy, as shown when the evaluation results are compared to other patients' evaluations, previous to capsulotomy. In another study they reported different failures depending of the surgical strategy being used; thus with frontal ventromedial lesion no alterations were found although when the ventral striated was involved, there were differences as to the number of categories and the conceptual level in WCST. Besides, the group with the worst ranging was the one with large lesions at dorsal level which gave place to visual spatial perception alterations, as well as to psychomotor slowness in a sequence task, and to intrusions in an associated learning task. This finding was expected because the extent of the regions affected by the lesion corresponds to the alterations observed. No differences were reported in another research, as to the WAIS ratings or the Memory Scale of Wechsler, neither before nor after the operation. Nevertheless, the WCST showed some differences in regard to the categories established in respect to the control group, which were interpreted as a lack of abstract reasoning and cognitive flexibility. In schizophrenic patients submitted to leucotomy because of their aggressive behaviour and lack of impulse control, follow up, while comparing their cognitive performance to that of other schizophrenic subjects who had not been operated, showed that there were negative effects on different cognitive aspects, although these, as part of the dysfunction expected for schizophrenia, were not caused by surgery. Up to this moment, in Mexico there is not an evaluation protocol for patients needing psychiatric neurosurgery , and therefore, solid and objective standards should be established for this purpose. For more than a decade, the Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría Ramón de la Fuente (INPRF), has used neuropsychologic exploration protocols which are based not only on a wide clinical experience in the field of psychiatric disorders but also on the research carried out by our institution. Besides, integration of neuropsychological studies is based on international parameters designed to apply and interpret these instruments. As well, with the same tests it is possible to distinguish between the alterations pertaining to illness and those resulting from neurosurgery. This, in turn will be considered for establishing, if required, reasoned rehabilitation techniques. This battery is composed by the following tests: Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale (WAIS), Integrated Program for Neuropsychological Exploration Test of Barcelona (Short Version), Rey's Complex Figure (Standarization for Mexican Population, Instituto Nacional de Psiquiatría), and Verbal Learning Test Spain Complutense (TAVEC). This battery must be applied before the procedure, and follow up should be made for a period of between three, six to eight months, continuing with this evaluation protocol for at least three years. Nevertheless, flexibility may be allowed in case there should be complaints from the patient that justify making an evaluation before the given time. On the other hand, considering the position and vulnerable condition in this type of surgical procedures paradigms that evaluate different functions of the frontal sector are proposed in order to obtain specific information of their functioning before and after intervention. We propose to use the Wisconsing Card Sorting Test (WCST), the Stroop Test and the Trail Making B. In addition to the previous statements, the personality changes that may appear ought to be considered, because some personality alterations associated with hypo-frontality have been reported in patients submitted to capsulotomty, although such alterations may be due to judgement errors that are typical of cognitive damage. Finally, we consider that within the selection and interdisci-plinary handling process for patients who may need psychiatric neurosurgery, information obtained from neuropsychological evaluation is necessary. Besides, it will allow the neuropsychologist, as part of the team in charge of these patients, not only to make realistic and objective suggestions regarding the therapeutic strate-gies to be used in each particular case, but also, to advise their relatives.
ABSTRACT
Con el fin de precisar el diagnóstico de la dispraxia constructiva se estudian niños, que consultaron en edad escolar por dificultad de aprendizaje y/o dificultad motriz y que tenían: a)una discrepancia a favor del CIV del WISC de 20 puntos o más, y/o el Bender con una edad de maduración perceptivo-motriz dos o más años por debajo de la edad cronológica. Se realizó estudio neurológico, psicológico y pedagógico. Se concluyó que en el diagnóstico de dispraxia constructiva es importante: 1) la anamnesis exhaustiva y dirigida, 2) la discrepancia de más de 30 puntos entre la escala verbal y ejecutiva del WISC, y/o la escala ejecutiva menor de 70 y/o cubos y/o rompecabezas por debajo de 7; 3) alteraciones del pensamiento lógico matemático que se traducen en dificultades en las matemáticas. El examen neurológico y el estudio neuropsicológico completo, incluye el estudio de la lectura, las matemáticas y el lenguaje oral, pueden dar elementos para establecer una probable localización y la extensión de la alteración que influye en el pronóstico
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Female , Language Disorders/diagnosis , Learning Disabilities/diagnosis , Psychomotor Disorders/diagnosisABSTRACT
La Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota dio al servicio el programa de trasplante renal en 1985. Desde entonces y hasta ahora se han realizado 48 trasplantes de rinon cuya experiencia se analiza en el presente articulo. Se presenta la incidencia etiologica en nuestra serie, la cual como en lo informado en la literatura mundial obedece mayormente a glomerulonefritis. Se analiza el tipo de origen del trasplante renal en nuestro programa en donde solo hasta el presente hemos logrado un avance en el numero de donantes cadavericos, haciendo notar que esto se debe gracias a haber conformado un Servicio de Trasplantes del Area de Bogota (STAB) encargado de la promocion y comportamiento de organos para trasplante. Se detallan las enfermedades asociadas mas comunes en nuestro programa haciendo enfasis en la presencia de hepatitis B y sus implicaciones en el trasplante renal y en la sobrevida del receptor. Analizamos la compatibilidad inmunologica de los receptores con los donantes tanto en donante vivo relacionado (DVR), como en cadaverico, la profilaxis antibiotica e inmunosupresora que utilizamos, el diagnostico y tratamiento del rechazo, incluido el metilprednisolona-resistente, y las complicaciones y sobrevida actuarial de pacientes e injerto en nuestro programa. En resumen, la Fundacion Santa Fe de Bogota puede mostrar un programa de trasplante renal de 5 anos de evolucion con excelentes resultados basados en protocolos definidos y actualizados