TY - JOUR
T1 - Constructional Apraxia in Older Patients with Brain Tumors
T2 - Considerations with an Up-To-Date Review of the Literature
AU - Abete Fornara, Giorgia
AU - Di Cristofori, Andrea
AU - Bertani, Giulio Andrea
AU - Carrabba, Giorgio
AU - Zarino, Barbara
PY - 2018
Y1 - 2018
N2 - Background: Constructional apraxia (CA) is a neuropsychological impairment of either basic perceptual and motor abilities or executive functions, in the absence of any kind of motor or perceptual deficit. Considering patients with focal brain tumors, CA is common in left or right parietal and parieto-occipital lesions. In neuropsychology, the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT; or parallel forms) is commonly used for the assessment of CA. This study stems from a clinical observation of a difficulty with CA tests for the majority of older neurosurgical patients without occipitoparietal lesions. Methods: Patients were tested at 3 points: before surgery, 3 months after surgery, and 12 months after surgery. Thirty patients (15 meningiomas and 15 glioblastomas) were studied retrospectively. Results: Older patients with focal brain lesions, regardless of the nature of the tumor, performed poorly at CA tests. More than 50% of patients obtained pathologic results at all 3 times considered. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that as CA complex tests involve multiple domains, poor results in copy task may reflect a global cognitive deficit of older patients with tumors, without a specific constructional praxis deficit. CA complex tests (such as the ROCFT) do not give significant informations about visuo-constructional abilities.
AB - Background: Constructional apraxia (CA) is a neuropsychological impairment of either basic perceptual and motor abilities or executive functions, in the absence of any kind of motor or perceptual deficit. Considering patients with focal brain tumors, CA is common in left or right parietal and parieto-occipital lesions. In neuropsychology, the Rey-Osterrieth Complex Figure Test (ROCFT; or parallel forms) is commonly used for the assessment of CA. This study stems from a clinical observation of a difficulty with CA tests for the majority of older neurosurgical patients without occipitoparietal lesions. Methods: Patients were tested at 3 points: before surgery, 3 months after surgery, and 12 months after surgery. Thirty patients (15 meningiomas and 15 glioblastomas) were studied retrospectively. Results: Older patients with focal brain lesions, regardless of the nature of the tumor, performed poorly at CA tests. More than 50% of patients obtained pathologic results at all 3 times considered. Conclusions: Our findings suggest that as CA complex tests involve multiple domains, poor results in copy task may reflect a global cognitive deficit of older patients with tumors, without a specific constructional praxis deficit. CA complex tests (such as the ROCFT) do not give significant informations about visuo-constructional abilities.
KW - Constructional apraxia
KW - Elderly glioma
KW - Elderly meningioma
KW - Neuropsychology
KW - Neurosurgery
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UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85046127853&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.wneu.2018.03.159
DO - 10.1016/j.wneu.2018.03.159
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85046127853
VL - 114
SP - e1130-e1137
JO - World Neurosurgery
JF - World Neurosurgery
SN - 1878-8750
ER -