Cerebral atrophy, diagnosis using tomodensitometry compared with the new Wechsler intelligence scale in a psychiatric population

In a psychiatric service, the present compares results of a simple psychometric test (in this case the new Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale - WAIS) with those obtained from a brain CT Scan in two groups of 20 patients showing cerebral atrophy vs. twenty patients with normal CT Scan. Results show there exists a rather complex relationship between the cerebral atrophy scan and the intellectual deterioration. The performance to WAIS appears as globally lessened in cerebral atrophy cases. As for the cerebral rating scale, lower scores are registered only in vocabulary and similitudes in cerebral atrophy cases. Psychometric deterioration, according to scales and to formulation of "applicable" or "no-applicable" to age does not apply to the tests given in the course of the present study of cerebral atrophy.