Cognitive impaiment

Guimarães & Sá. Cognitive dysfunction in multiple sclerosis.Front Neurol. 2012;3:74.

In MS prevalence studies of community and clinical samples, indicate that 45-60% of MSers are cognitively impaired. Cognitive dysfunction have been traditionally described as heterogeneous, but more recent studies suggest that there is a specific pattern of MS-related cognitive dysfunction. With the advent of disease-modifying medications for MS and emphasis on early intervention and treatment, detection of cognitive impairment at its earliest stage becomes particularly important. 

In this review the authors address: the cognitive domains most commonly impaired in MS (memory, attention, executive functions, speed of information processing, and visual-spatial abilities); the pathophysiological mechanism implied in MS cognitive dysfunction and correlated brain MRI features; the importance of neuropsychological assessment of MSers in different stages of the disease and the influence of its course on cognitive performance; the most used tests and batteries for neuropsychological assessment; therapeutic strategies to improve cognitive abilities.

"This is not an original piece of research, but highlights the problem of cognitive impairment in MS and the types of problems MSers have."

Other posts of interest

Research: Grey Matter Disease and Cognition - Multiple Sclerosis ...
18 May 2012
Background: Cognitive impairment may result in significant disability in MSers. Previous MRI studies on cognition in MS were mainly based on measures of gross brain involvement. This study, using voxel-based morphometry ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Diffusion tensor imaging and cognition
10 Nov 2011
Correlations between DTI-metrics and cognition were explored in regions demonstrating significant differences between the RRMS patients and the control group. Lower DTI measurements were found in RRMS participants ...

Research: Self-assessment of cognition is not what it seems
11 Sep 2011
Background: Self-report measures of cognition have consistently been shown to correlate better with depressed mood than neuropsychological test performance in MS'ers, with few studies focusing on the role of anxiety and ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Survey results of cognition vs. physical ...
25 Aug 2011
"It is clear that this poll was quite divisive with some favouring cognition and others physical disability." "The issue here is that early in MS when the accumulation of physical disability is too slow to be used in clinical trials we ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Cognitive deficits correlate with MRI ...
31 Jul 2011
Results: In this study a significant correlation was found between total lesion volume (normal and abnormal appearing tissue) and general cognitive dysfunction, verbal intelligence, mental processing speed, visual problem ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Research: Corpus Callosum and brain ...
20 May 2012
S. Influence of Corpus Callosum Damage on Cognition and Physical Disability in Multiple Sclerosis: A Multimodal Study. PLoS One. 2012;7(5):e37167. Epub 2012 May 14. BACKGROUND:Corpus callosum (CC) is a common ...

New survey: cognitive impairment vs. physical disability
15 Aug 2011
I think that cognitive impairment is largely ignored in MS studies and research but I don't think it's helpful to try to promote the importance of one set of symptoms over another. If it were possible to choose only cognitive or ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Cognitive rehabilitation in MS
28 Feb 2012
"This study shows that cognitive rehabilitation in MS'ers with cognitive dysfunction may work by recruiting new areas of the brain. This implies that you can train your brain to cope with damage and to compensate for the ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Cognitive impairment in asymptomatic ...
06 Feb 2012
OBJECTIVE: To evaluate cognitive changes in a cohort of radiologically isolated syndromes (RIS) suggestive of MS and to assess their relationship with quantitative MRI measures such as white matter (WM), lesion loads, and ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Cognitive impairment and motor ...
25 Feb 2012
While motor (power and coordination) and cognitive impairments (memory, calculations, time-keeping, problem solving) are common in MS'ers, research concerning their relationship is limited. These investigators aimed to ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Cognitive impairment starts early in MS
12 Aug 2011
Objective: This study assessed whether abnormalities on functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) are related to cognitive function in people at presentation with clinically isolated syndrome (CIS) suggestive of MS.

The Paced auditory serial addition test (PASAT): a cognitive test in ...
19 Jul 2011
We use the test to assess the impact of treatments on cognition. The test is part of a battery of tests that form the MS functional composite or MSFC. The MSFC is another measure we use to assess disability progression or ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Research: Grey Matter lesions in SPMS
04 May 2012
MATERIALS AND METHODS: MSers were prospectively recruited and assessed using MR imaging and the standard cognitive battery called the Minimal Assessment of Cognitive Function in MS. MSers exhibiting impairment ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: What bladder drug are you on?
23 Jun 2011
One of the most commonly prescribed drugs for overactive bladders is oxybutynin; this drug is an old generation drug that penetrates into the brain and affects cognition. Oxybutynin has been been shown consistently to impact ...

Functional connectivity in the brain and cognitive impairment
10 Nov 2011
Using a data driven approach based on the strength of a salient pattern of cognitive pathology, we identified distinct brain networks that exhibit increases in functional connectivity despite the presence of strong and diffuse ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Cognitive testing for all
27 Dec 2011
Objective: To recommend a brief cognitive assessment for MS that is optimized for small centers, with one or few staff members, who may not have neuropsychological training and constructed to maximize international use.

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Slow cognitive processing in MS
06 Jul 2011
Three structures in the brain called the basal ganglia, thalamus and neocortex are have a key role in information-processing. The basal ganglia and thalamus are groups of neurons that are found deep with in the brain and ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Memory rehabilitation does not work in ...
19 Mar 2012
BACKGROUND: Impairments in cognitive function, particularly memory, are common in MSers and these can potentially affect their ability to complete functional activities. There is evidence from single-case or small group ...

Multiple Sclerosis Research: Treatment of memory impairment in MS
08 Oct 2011
Background: Memory impairment is one of the most frequent cognitive problems MS'ers complain about and has a great negative impact on their quality of life. A few pharmacologic agents appear to be effective to memory ...

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