title: Neuropsychological profiling of ischemic deficit secondary to ruptured dermoid cyst: a case report.
abstract: This report presents a case of a 39-year-old male with a spontaneously ruptured frontotemporal dermoid cyst. Intraoperatively, during surgical resection of the cyst, significant fat spillage occurred associated with a profound anterior circulation vasospasm. The patient underwent serial neuropsychological evaluation over five months, revealing a profile of initial deterioration, followed by delayed recovery of cognitive function. A review of the literature reveals three other case reports describing ischemic deficit after dermoid rupture, but the cognitive impairment associated with this pathology has never been formally profiled before, and it may be possible to draw analogies to the well-established ischemic deficit post-subarachnoid hemorrhage found in the literature. Neuropsychological profiling additionally informs us about the nature and progression of this entity from a cognitive perspective and whether the etiology of deficit caused by dermoid rupture could be localized, or global, secondary to diffuse fatty dissemination in the CSF.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Hurstwood Park Neurological Centre, Haywards Heath, West Sussex, United Kingdom. robbhatia@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Robin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bhatia
authors.forename: Stuart
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Bradley
authors.forename: James A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Akinwunmi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D002545:Brain Ischemia / Q000150:complications / Q000209:etiology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology*; D003884:Dermoid Cyst / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods; D008297:Male; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011594:Psychometrics; D020127:Recovery of Function; D012422:Rupture, Spontaneous / Q000150:complications*