C O M PA R ATIVE STUDY OF THE NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL AND NEUROIMAGING EVALUATIONS IN CHILDREN WITH DYSLEXIA

ABSTRACT- We analyzed re t rospectively the neuroimaging exams of children with a confirmed diagnosis of dyslexia and correlated our findings with the evaluation of higher cortical functions. We studied 34 medical files of patients of the Ambulatory of Neuro- d i fficulties in Learning, FCM/UNICAMP. All of them had been sent to the ambulatory with primary or secondary complaints of difficulties at school and were submitted to neuropsychological evaluation and imaging exam (SPECT). From the children evaluated 58.8% had exams presenting dysfunction with 47 % presenting hypoperfusion in the temporal lobe. As for the higher cortical functions, the most affected abilities were reading, writing and memory. There was signif-icance between the hypoperfused areas and the variables schooling, reading, writing, memory and math-ematic reasoning. The SPECTs showed hypoperfusion in areas involved in the reading and writing pro c e s s-es. Both are equivalent in terms of involved functional areas and are similar in children with or without specific dysfunctions in neuroimaging. KEY WORDS: dyslexia, neuroimaging, neuropsychology. Estudo comparativo das avaliações neuropsicológicas e de neuroimagem em crianças com dislexia RESUMO- Analisamos re t rospectivamente exames de neuroimagem de crianças com diagnóstico de disle