Neuropsychological improvement following endarterectomy as a function of outcome measure and reconstructed vessel.
30 patient receiving right or left carotid reconstruction and 15 medically matched controls were compared pre- and post-surgically on measures of motor speed, sustained vigilance, verbal memory and verbal and nonverbal intellectual function. The group receiving right sided vessel reconstruction demonstrated the largest post-operative improvement in intellectual function in any of the groups. The findings suggest that increased blood perfusion following right sided endarterectomy facilitates the right hemisphere's exclusive control of bilateral attention/arousal responses. In addition, findings suggest that detection of post-endarterectomy improvement may be dependent on the specific task dimension sampled, e.g., speed vs. cognitive ability and verbal-graphic vs. nonverbal symbol manipulation.
Greiffenstein
M F
MF
Psychology Service, Allen Park VAMC, Detroit, Michigan 48101.
Brinkman
S
S
Jacobs
L
L
Braun
P
P
D002339:Carotid Arteries / Q000601:surgery*; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery; D004691:Endarterectomy; D006801:Humans; D007361:Intelligence Tests; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011184:Postoperative Period