Evaluation of Cognitive Impairment After Posterior Cerebral Artery Infarction

OBJECTIVE: The assessment of cognitive impairment after posterior cerebral artery (PCA) ischemic infarction has not been well documanted. MATERIAL and METHODS: Twenty-six oriented, cooperated and non-aphasic consecutive patients with right or left (10/16) PCA infarction who were hospitalized between the years 2010-2012 were enrolled to the study. The branches of PSA were dealt as cortical and subcortical infarct under two groups. Short mental state examination test and cognitive test battery (CTB) created from Wechsler memory scale (WMS), word-catogory association test and similarity test parameters were applied to the patients at the first week and third month follow-up visits and the groups were compared with each other. RESULTS: There was a significant improvement in catogory association test and total score of cognitive test battery (CTB) in right PCA group, also there was a significant improvement in catogory association test in left PCA group at the first and 3th month evaluations. At the first month evaluations, total score of CTB of the subcortical segment PCA infarcts are lower than the cortical segment PCA infarcts. At the 3th month evaluations the scores increased in the both groups; but the scores in the subcortical PCA infarcts were lower than the cortical PCA infarcts. CONCLUSION: Our findings suggest that there was a cognitive impairment in patients with PCA infarction. The impairment in verbal fluency which was showed by catogory association test was found more prominent in the second evaluation. Further studies including functional imaging methods and cortical function tests are needed