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Neuropsychological deficits in multiple sclerosis after acuterelapse |
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| Authors: | J Foong L Rozewicz G Quaghebeur A Thompson D Miller M Ron |
| Affiliation: | Institute of Neurology, London, UK. |
| Abstract: | OBJECTIVES—To examine cognitive and neurologicalchanges and their relation to brain pathology in patients with multiplesclerosis during acute relapse. METHODS—Thirteen patients with multiple sclerosiswere examined with a battery of neuropsychological tests during acuterelapse and six weeks later. Their performance was compared with theperformance of 10 controls matched for age and premorbid IQ. Gadolinium(Gd) enhanced MRI was also performed in patients on both occasions. RESULTS—The patients with multiple sclerosisperformed significantly worse than controls on most tests of attentionand memory during acute relapse and in remission. At follow up therewas a significant or trend of improvement in performance on some testsof attention for patients in whom the Gd enhanced lesion load haddecreased. In this subgroup of patients, their improvement alsocorrelated significantly with the reduction in acute lesion load. CONCLUSIONS—The findings suggest that certainneuropsychological deficits detected during an acute relapse may bereversible, particularly in patients who initially have mild cognitive impairment. |
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