Cognitive functions in carotid artery disease before endarterectomy.
Restorative effects of carotid endarterectomy (CEA) on cognitive functioning in patients with severe atherosclerotic disease presuppose the existence of cognitive deficits prior to the intervention. Thorough examination of this premise received only minor attention. The present study assessed symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with severe unilateral or bilateral stenosis of the carotid arteries one day before CEA. Healthy volunteers with similar demographic characteristics served as control subjects. Patients overall showed decreased functioning on tests of attention, verbal and visual memory, verbal fluency, and psychomotor speed and executive functioning, even after correction for the effects of mood. Simple motor skills and visuospatial functioning were not affected. Patients grouped according to presence and type of previous clinical symptoms and severity of contralateral stenosis only slightly differed from each other. The findings leave open the potential of improving cognitive function after CEA.
Bossema
Ercolie R
ER
Department of Health Psychology, Utrecht University, The Netherlands. e.r.bossema@lumc.nl
Brand
Nico
N
Moll
Frans L
FL
Ackerstaff
Rob G A
RG
de Haan
Edward H F
EH
van Doornen
Lorenz J P
LJ
D000368:Aged; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D001288:Attention / Q000502:physiology; D002340:Carotid Artery Diseases / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003071:Cognition / Q000502:physiology*; D016894:Endarterectomy, Carotid; D005260:Female; D007839:Functional Laterality / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008570:Memory, Short-Term / Q000502:physiology; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011597:Psychomotor Performance / Q000502:physiology; D014705:Verbal Behavior / Q000502:physiology