IMPACT OF COGNITIVE REHABILITATION THERAPY ON NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL IMPAIRMENTS AS MEASURED BY BRAIN PERFUSION SPECT - A LONGITUDINAL-STUDY

Three patients,with known brain injury and neuropsychological impairme nts, are followed through an individualized cognitive rehabilitation p rogramme and post discharge from the treatment programme. Single Photo n Emission Computed Tomography (SPECT) of the brain was employed to ev aluate resting relative cerebral blood flow (rCBF) during the process of recovery from brain injury. All patients experienced significant im provements on measures of neuropsychological functioning and improveme nts in rCBF during this longitudinal study. The specific changes in rC BF appear to be related to the location of the patient's brain injury and strategies particular to cognitive rehabilitation therapy. Continu ed improvements in rCBF, functional abilities, and cognitive skills we re documented in these three cases up to 45 months post brain injury.