Neuropsychological assessment of adult patients with shunted hydrocephalus

Abstract

Objective: This study is planned to determine the neurocognitive difficulties of hydrocephalic adults.

Methods: THE RESEARCH GROUP CONTAINED HEALTHY ADULTS (CONTROL GROUP, N : 15), and hydrocephalic adults (n : 15). Hydrocephalic group consisted of patients with idiopathic aquaduct stenosis and post-meningitis hydrocephalus. All patients were followed with shunted hydrocephalus and not gone to shunt revision during last two years. They were chosen from either asymptomatic or had only minor symptoms without motor and sensorineural deficit. A neuropsychological test battery (Raven Standart Progressive Matrices, Bender-Gestalt Test, Cancellation Test, Clock Drawing Test, Facial Recognition Test, Line Orientation Test, Serial Digit Learning Test, Stroop Color Word Interference Test-TBAG Form, Verbal Fluency Test, Verbal Fluency Test, Visual-Aural Digit Span Test-B) was applied to all groups.

Results: Neuropsychological assessment of hydrocephalic patients demonstrated that they had poor performance on visual, semantic and working memory, visuoconstructive and frontal functions, reading, attention, motor coordination and executive function of parietal lobe which related with complex and perseverative behaviour. Eventually, these patients had significant impairment on the neurocognitive functions of their frontal, parietal and temporal lobes. On the other hand, the statistical analyses performed on demographic data showed that the aetiology of the hydrocephalus, age, sex and localization of the shunt (frontal or posterior parietal) did not affect the test results.

Conclusion: This prospective study showed that adult patients with hydrocephalus have serious neuropsychological problems which might be directly caused by the hydrocephalus; and these problems may cause serious adaptive difficulties in their social, cultural, behavioral and academic life.

Keywords: Adult; Hydrocephalus; Neuropsychological assessment.

Fig. 1

Figure shows the mean values of the raven standart progressive matrices (RSPM) total correct and RSPM duration scores. Each error bar shows the minimum and maximum of the RSPM values.

Fig. 2

(A) Figure shows the mean scores of the stroop color word test (SCWT) time and SCWT interference; and (B) mean scores of the verbal fluency test for subjects. SCWT : Stroop Color Word Test, VFT : Verbal Fluency Test.

Fig. 3

Mean scores of the learning and facial recognition tests for subjects. FRT : Facial Recognition Test, SDLT : Serial Digit Learning Test, VADS-B : Visual-Aural Digit Span Test-B.

Fig. 4

Mean scores of the visuospatial perception tests for subjects. BGT : Bender-Gestalt Test, CDT : Clock Drawing Test, LOT : Line Orientation Test, CT : Cancellation Test.