title: Cognitive profiles in Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI) patients associated with Parkinson's disease and cognitive disorders.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Mild cognitive impairment (MCI) is rapidly becoming one of the most common clinical manifestations affecting the elderly and represents an heterogeneous clinical syndrome that can be ascribed to different etiologies; the construct of MCI in Parkinson's disease (PD) (MCI-PD) is more recent but the range of deficits is still variable. Early recognition and accurate classification of MCI-PD could offer opportunities for novel therapeutic interventions to improve the natural pathologic course.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To investigate the clinical phenotype of amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) and in patients with PD and MCI (MCI-PD).
  
  
  METHODS
  Seventy-three patients with aMCI and in 38 patients with MCI-PD were enrolled. They all underwent Mini-mental State Examination (MMSE), the Rey auditory-verbal learning test and the immediate visual memory (IVM) item of the Mental Deterioration Battery, the Rey auditory-verbal learning test included the Rey-immediate (Rey-I), and the delayed recall of the word list (Rey test deferred, Rey-D). The Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS) was used for mood assessment.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The results of the Rey-I and Rey-D and of the IVM item showed statistically significant differences between the aMCI and the MCI-PD group. The mean Rey-I and Rey-D score was significantly lower as well as the IVM score was higher in patients with aMCI than in those with MCI-PD, aMCI patients showed greater impairment in long-term memory, whereas more aMCI than MCI-PD patients had preserved attention, computation, praxis, and conceptualization.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our findings demonstrate that the cognitive deficit profile is specific for each of the two disorders: Memory impairment was a typical feature in aMCI patients while MCI-PD patients suffered from executive functions and visuospatial attention deficits.
authors.affiliation: Neurology Service, Santorso Hospital, Garziere street 73, Santorso, Italy.
authors.forename: Michele
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pistacchi
authors.affiliation: Neurology Service, San Martino Hospital, Belluno, viale europa 22 Belluno, Italy.
authors.forename: Manuela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gioulis
authors.affiliation: Radiology Service, Santorso Hospital, Garziere street 73, Santorso, Italy.
authors.forename: Franco
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Contin
authors.affiliation: Neurology Service, Santorso Hospital, Garziere street 73, Santorso, Italy.
authors.forename: Flavio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Sanson
authors.affiliation: Neurology Service, San Martino Hospital, Belluno, viale europa 22 Belluno, Italy.
authors.forename: Sandro Zambito
authors.initials: SZ
authors.lastname: Marsala
keywords: Amnestic mild cognitive impairment; MCI-PD; Parkinson's disease