NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL PATTERN OF STRIATONIGRAL DEGENERATION - COMPARISONWITH PARKINSONS-DISEASE AND PROGRESSIVE SUPRANUCLEAR PALSY

To study the neuropsychological pattern of striatonigral degeneration (SND), 14 consecutive patients with probable SND were submitted to an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Compared with controls the performance of patients with SND was impaired on category and phon emic fluency, frontal behaviours, trail making test A and B, and free recall of the Grober and Buschke test, but normal on the revised WAIS verbal scale, Raven 47 coloured progressive matrices, Wechsler memory scale, California verbal learning test, Wisconsin card sorting test, a nd the Stroop interference condition. The performance of patients with SND was also compared with that of 14 patients with Parkinson's disea se and 14 patients with progressive supranuclear palsy (PSP) matched f or age at onset, duration of disease, severity of intellectual deterio ration, and depression. The results showed that the dysexecutive syndr ome of SND is similar to that of Parkinson's disease and less severe t han in PSP.