title: Cognitive screening in patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in early stages.
abstract: Few studies have examined the use of a short cognitive screening of ALS patients in order to establish which patients should undergo a more comprehensive neuropsychological assessment. We tested 20 patients with early ALS with four cognitive screening instruments and subsequently with an extensive neuropsychological assessment. Sixty percent of patients showed a deficit in at least two scores of tests administered, while 40% had three abnormal tests. Dysexecutive syndrome was the most common neuropsychological impairment. The Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB) proved a useful indicator of the presence of cognitive dysfunction to complete neuropsychological evaluation. In conclusion, the FAB can be considered a sensitive cognitive screening tool in these patients. These data will be verified on a larger sample of patients.
authors: Dipartimento di Scienze Cardiovascolari e Neurologiche, Sezione Neurologia, Policlinico Universitario, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Cagliari, Università di Cagliari, Italy. lgr.floris@tiscali.it
authors: Gianluca
authors: G
authors: Floris
authors: Giuseppe
authors: G
authors: Borghero
authors: Adriano
authors: A
authors: Chiò
authors: Liz
authors: L
authors: Secchi
authors: Antonino
authors: A
authors: Cannas
authors: Claudia
authors: C
authors: Sardu
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Calvo
authors: Cristina
authors: C
authors: Moglia
authors: Maria Giovanna
authors: MG
authors: Marrosu
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000690:Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data