Cognitive deficits in multiple sclerosis patients with cerebellar symptoms.

Full Abstract

BACKGROUND: Cerebellar dysfunction is common in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, neuropsychological studies of this clinical feature are lacking. OBJECTIVE: We investigate the neuropsychological features in relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) patients with and without cerebellar dysfunction. METHODS: Twenty-one RR-MS patients with cerebellar dysfunction (RR-MSc), characterized by prevalent ataxic gait and nystagmus, and 21 RR-MS patients without any cerebellar manifestation (RR-MSnc) pair-matched for demographical and clinical variables were studied. All patients from each group underwent an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Magnetic resonance imaging analysis included hyperintense fast fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery lesion load in the whole brain as well as in the four lobes separately. RESULTS: Any significant differences were detected in total and regional lesion load measurements between the two groups. RR-MSc group performed equally as well as the RR-MSnc group on many of the cognitive exploration measures. Nevertheless, the RR-MSc group performed more poorly than the RR-MSnc group on attention tests (Symbol Digit Modalities Test) and verbal fluency tests (Controlled Oral Word Association Test); neither of the test results proved to be affected by regional lesion loads. CONCLUSION: These results highlight the importance of considering cognitive deficits associated with the presence of cerebellar symptoms in RR-MS.

Author information

Author/s: Valentino, P (P); Cerasa, A (A); Chiriaco, C (C); Nisticò, R (R); Pirritano, D (D); Gioia, Mc (M); Lanza, P (P); Canino, M (M); Del Giudice, F (F); Gallo, O (O); Condino, F (F); Torchia, G (G); Quattrone, A (A);

Affiliation: Institute of Neurology, University Magna Graecia, Catanzaro, Italy. p.valentino(-atsign-)isn.cnr.it

Journal and publication information

Publication Type: Journal Article

Journal: Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England) (Mult Scler), published in England. (Language: eng)

Reference: 2009-Jul; vol 15 (issue 7) : pp 854-9

Dates: Created 2009/06/22; Completed 2009/09/10;

PMID: 19542264, status: MEDLINE (last retrieval date: 9/10/2009, IMS Date: )

Sourced from the National Library of Medicine. Abstract text and other information may be subject to copyright.

External Links for this article
(including full text providers, if available):

Click Electronic Full-text Provider Links to see options for finding the electronic full text links to this article. Note there may be a subscription or fee required for access to the full text. See our FAQ for information on finding FREE full text articles.

This article may also be located in paper journal collections available in many libraries. Use the Journal and Publication Information above to find the full article.