ABSTRACT
The aim of the present study was to show whether cognitive deficits are present in chronic cerebellar patients using a self-developed, validated bedside screening test. Twenty-one adults with a history of infarction within the territory of the posterior-inferior (PICA) or the superior cerebellar artery (SCA), and 25 age-, sex-, and education-matched healthy controls participated. Lesion localization was based on individual 3D MRI scans. The test took 10-12 min including subtests of naming, executive functions, attention, figural and verbal memory, reading, long-term memory, mental arithmetic, higher order motor control, and spatial functions. Though individual patients tended to make more errors than controls, neither total error score nor subscores revealed significant group differences. No obvious cognitive deficits appeared to be present in chronic cerebellar patients as assessed by a bedside screening test.
Subject(s)
Brain Infarction/complications , Cerebellar Diseases/complications , Cerebellum/physiopathology , Cognition Disorders/diagnosis , Neuropsychological Tests , Adult , Aged , Brain Infarction/physiopathology , Case-Control Studies , Cerebellar Diseases/physiopathology , Cerebellum/blood supply , Chronic Disease , Cognition Disorders/etiology , Female , Humans , Male , Matched-Pair Analysis , Middle Aged , Point-of-Care SystemsABSTRACT
The aim of the present study was to examine cognitive functions in a group of chronic patients with focal cerebellar lesions. Both effects of localization (anterior vs. posterior lobe) and side (left vs. right cerebellar hemisphere) were of interest. Fourteen patients with infarctions within the territory of the posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA) and seven patients with infarctions within the territory of the superior cerebellar artery (SCA) participated. The affected lobules and nuclei were assessed based on 3D MR imaging. The right cerebellar hemisphere was affected in eight PICA and two SCA patients, the left hemisphere in six PICA and four SCA patients. One SCA patient revealed a bilateral lesion. In order to study possible lateralization of functions, subjects performed a language task as well as standard neglect and extinction tests. Moreover, two tests of executive functions were applied. There were no significant group differences apart from a verbal fluency task, in which all cerebellar patients - but especially those with right-sided lesions - were impaired. Voxel-based lesion-symptom mapping (VLSM) revealed that a lesion of the right hemispheric lobule Crus II was associated with impaired performance in the verbal fluency task. In sum, the results showed preserved cognitive abilities in chronic cerebellar patients apart from impairments of verbal fluency in patients with right-cerebellar lesions. The latter findings are in line with the assumption that the right posterolateral cerebellar hemisphere supports functions associated with verbal fluency.
