Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.20471/may.2021.57.01.10
Verbal Memory Functions in Patients after the Ruptured and Unruptured Cerebral Aneurysm Surgery
Ljiljana Pačić-Turk
orcid.org/0000-0002-5276-0330
; Catholic University of Croatia, Department of Psychology, Zagreb, Croatia
Valerija Hauptfeld
; Department of Neurosurgery, Medical School, University of Zagreb, Zagreb
Lana Maljković
; Department of Neurosurgery, Medical School, University of Zagreb, Zagreb
Ivo Somek
; Department of Neurosurgery, Medical School, University of Zagreb, Zagreb
Larissa Kalaus
; Catholic University of Croatia, Department of Psychology, Zagreb, Croatia
Abstract
A cerebral aneurysm is a bulge in the wall of a brain blood vessel with a risk to rupture. It occurs in about 2% of the population, somewhat more often in women. Most aneurysms are located in the anterior circulation area. Aneurysm rupture is relatively rare and accounts for 5% of all cerebrovascular brain incidents. Ruptured and asymptomatic/unruptured aneurysms are often treated surgically at the Department of Neurosurgery, Medical School University of Zagreb. The study included 134 patients after cerebral aneurysm surgery during the last 10 years, and neuropsychological testing was performed on average 77 days after surgery. The average age was 52 years and they completed an average of 12 years of education. In the group of patients included in this study, 40.3% of them were operated after ruptured, and 59.7% for unruptured cerebral aneurysm. Most aneurysms were located in the middle cerebral and anterior communicating arteries. With regard to lateralization, there was an equal number of aneurysms located in the right and left hemisphere and bilaterally (on the anterior communicating artery). As part of regular neuropsychological assessment, tests of verbal learning and memory (numerical, logical and mechanical memory) were applied. The aims of the study were to find out whether patients operated for ruptured cerebral aneurysms show greater verbal memory impairments than patients operated for unruptured cerebral aneurysms and whether there was the significant effect of lateralization of aneurysm (to check the interaction effect of both rupture and lateralization on those functions). The results obtained show that, even though there are no statistically significant differences between groups of patients that underwent surgery for ruptured and unruptured brain aneurysm, patients show a trend of somewhat better results on most of the verbal memory functions after surgery for unruptured brain aneurysm. The results show statistically significant difference between groups of patients that underwent surgery for ACoA aneurysm and those with right lateralized cerebral aneurysms on most of the trails on AVLT test. Also, patients with operated ACoA aneurysm have significantly worse scores in learning process (AVLT 3 and AVLT 4) and especially on short-term and long-term verbal memory than the patients who were operated for left or right lateralized aneurysm.
Keywords
cerebral aneurysm; ruptured cerebral aneurysm; unruptured cerebral aneurysm; verbal memory; lateralisation
Hrčak ID:
246608
URI
Publication date:
20.11.2020.
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