Do we evaluate outcome appropriately?
We discuss two different ways of measuring outcome in a sample of 20 patients who had intracranial aneurysm surgery. Patients were evaluated at discharge using the Karnofsky Scale and the Glasgow Outcome Scale. Six months after discharge we conducted a neuropsychiatric evaluation including cognitive, behavioral, and mood status assessment. Although 13 of our patients had a "good recovery', 18 had some neuropsychiatric impairment. We did not find statistical relationships between the discharge evaluation and the neuropsychiatric assessment at follow-up. We discuss the need for developing new outcome measures to pick-up neuropsychiatric deficits, beyond the traditional neurologic semiology.
Beristain
X
X
Department of Neurosurgery, University of Illinois at Chicago.
Gaviria
M
M
Dujovny
M
M
Stark
J L
JL
Ausman
J I
JI
D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D002532:Intracranial Aneurysm / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales