https://doi.org/10.4081/reumatismo.2003.171

Neuropsychological tests, MRI and SPECT in the evaluation of CNS involvement in SLE

Vol. 55 No. 3 (2003)
Abstract Views: 1592
PDF: 1476
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

P. Tomietto
office@pagepress.org
V. Annese
S. D’Agostini
E. Gremese
E. Di Poi
G. Ferraccioli
Objective: To assess the agreement between presence and location of central nervous system (CNS) structural damage and neuropsychological performance. Methods: 21 unselected SLE patients underwent a 3 hours-long battery of neuropsychological tests sampling 15 cognitive functions. A neuropsychologist hypothesized for each SLE patient the most likely site of possible involvement, according to the neuropsychological performance. Patients underwent MRI scans within 6 months (3 months before or after) from neuropsychological tests and SPECT. Results: 14 of the 21 SLE patients (66,6%) were impaired in at least 1 function; among these, 7 patients (33,3%) were mildly impaired and 7 (33,3%) had more than 3 functions impaired. 10 patients (48%) had abnormal MRI scan. Negative and positive agreements between neuropsychological performance and MRI scan were detected in 15 patients (71%; χ2 with Yates’correction 6,09, p 0,007, measure K for concordance 0,44, p 0,03). All the 6 negative agreements had no records of major neurologic or psychiatric events; among the 9 positive agreements, 6 presented previous major neurologic events and 2 minor neuropsychiatric symptoms. Among the subjects with disagreement, 1 was unimpaired with positive MRI and without neuropsychiatric symptoms, 5 were mildly impaired with negative MRI. Conclusions: A detailed neuropsychological evaluation along with MRI arose as a valid method to esclude or to identify, localize and clinically interpret CNS involvement in SLE. Disagreement between MRI and neuropsychological tests was detected mainly for mild cognitive impairment that might be the expression of functional (inflammatory or ischemic) processes.

Dimensions

Altmetric

PlumX Metrics

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations

Crossref
Scopus
Google Scholar
Europe PMC

How to Cite

Tomietto, P., Annese, V., D’Agostini, S., Gremese, E., Di Poi, E., & Ferraccioli, G. (2003). Neuropsychological tests, MRI and SPECT in the evaluation of CNS involvement in SLE. Reumatismo, 55(3), 171–180. https://doi.org/10.4081/reumatismo.2003.171

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work.