Ke. Stabell et R. Magnaes, NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL COURSE AFTER SURGERY FOR INTRACRANIAL ANEURYSMS - A PROSPECTIVE-STUDY AND A CRITICAL-REVIEW, Scandinavian journal of psychology, 38(2), 1997, pp. 127-137
Previously, only three studies with representative samples of patients
with ruptured intracranial aneurysms have provided detailed results o
f prospective, repeated, neuropsychological assessments after surgery.
These studies apparently disagree with regard to occurrence of cognit
ive deficits and to degree of improvement between early and delayed fo
llow-ups. The present paper attempts to analyze the conditions underly
ing these differences in results. As a first step in this analysis we
present a comprehensive, prospective, neuropsychological investigation
of a consecutive sample of 41 patients with rupture of a supratentori
al aneurysm, assessed 4 and 12 months after surgery. It is concluded t
hat a prorated course of improvement of a wide specter of psychologica
l functions may be revealed, but that sensitive tests and large sample
s are needed to establish the range of deficits and improvements with
time. Differences in patient selection with respect to severity of the
acute clinical state and delayed deterioration apparently contribute
importantly to the discrepance in previously reported outcome.