Neuropsychological effects of pallidotomy in patients with Parkinson's disease
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Raúl Carrea Institute of Neurological Research FLENI, Montañeses 2325, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Department of Clinical Neurology
- Dr G Kuzis ses{at}fleni.org.ar
- Department of Neuropsychiatry, Raúl Carrea Institute of Neurological Research FLENI, Montañeses 2325, 1428 Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Department of Clinical Neurology
- Dr G Kuzis ses{at}fleni.org.ar
Whether patients with Parkinson's disease develop cognitive impairments or improvements after ventral pallidotomy is still a debated issue.1 Recent studies produced contradictory findings which may have resulted from methodological factors such as differences in surgical techniques, neuropsychological assessments, duration of follow up, and the lack of evaluations of non-operated controls with Parkinson's disease.1
We assessed a consecutive series of 27 patients with Parkinson's disease who received unilateral pallidotomy using the microelectrode registration technique.2 Sixteen of these patients received a 3–6 month follow up evaluation, and 10 of them received a 12 month follow up evaluation. They were compared with a non-operated control group of 20 patients with Parkinson's disease matched for age, severity of extrapyramidal symptoms, and overall cognitive status who received the same neuropsychological evaluation at baseline and 12 months later. The neuropsychological examination included the Raven's progressive matrices, the Wisconsin card sorting test …
