BACKGROUND: Cerebellar dysfunction is common in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, neuropsychological studies of this clinical feature are lacking. OBJECTIVE: We investigate the neuropsychological features in relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) patients with and without cerebellar dysfunction. METHODS: Twenty-one RR-MS patients with cerebellar dysfunction (RR-MSc), characterized by prevalent ataxic gait and nystagmus, and 21 RR-MS patients without any cerebellar manifestation (RR-MSnc) pair-matched for demographical and clinical variables were studied. All patients from each group underwent an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Magnetic resonance imaging analysis included hyperintense fast fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery lesion load in the whole brain as well as in the four lobes separately. RESULTS: Any significant differences were detected in total and regional lesion load measurements between the two groups. RR-MSc group performed equally as well as the RR-MSnc group on many of the cognitive exploration measures. Nevertheless, the RR-MSc group performed more poorly than the RR-MSnc group on attention tests (Symbol Digit Modalities Test) and verbal fluency tests (Controlled Oral Word Association Test); neither of the test results proved to be affected by regional lesion loads. CONCLUSION: These results highlight the importance of considering cognitive deficits associated with the presence of cerebellar symptoms in RR-MS.
BACKGROUND:Cerebellar dysfunction is common in patients with multiple sclerosis (MS). However, neuropsychological studies of this clinical feature are lacking. OBJECTIVE: We investigate the neuropsychological features in relapsing-remitting MS (RR-MS) patients with and without cerebellar dysfunction. METHODS: Twenty-one RR-MS patients with cerebellar dysfunction (RR-MSc), characterized by prevalent ataxic gait and nystagmus, and 21 RR-MS patients without any cerebellar manifestation (RR-MSnc) pair-matched for demographical and clinical variables were studied. All patients from each group underwent an extensive battery of neuropsychological tests. Magnetic resonance imaging analysis included hyperintense fast fluid-attenuated inversion-recovery lesion load in the whole brain as well as in the four lobes separately. RESULTS: Any significant differences were detected in total and regional lesion load measurements between the two groups. RR-MSc group performed equally as well as the RR-MSnc group on many of the cognitive exploration measures. Nevertheless, the RR-MSc group performed more poorly than the RR-MSnc group on attention tests (Symbol Digit Modalities Test) and verbal fluency tests (Controlled Oral Word Association Test); neither of the test results proved to be affected by regional lesion loads. CONCLUSION: These results highlight the importance of considering cognitive deficits associated with the presence of cerebellar symptoms in RR-MS.
Authors: Valeria T Barletta; Elena Herranz; Costantina A Treaba; Russell Ouellette; Ambica Mehndiratta; Marco L Loggia; Eric C Klawiter; Carolina Ionete; Sloane A Jacob; Caterina Mainero Journal: Mult Scler Date: 2019-04-11 Impact factor: 6.312
Authors: Katrin Weier; Brenda Banwell; Antonio Cerasa; D Louis Collins; Anne-Marie Dogonowski; Hans Lassmann; Aldo Quattrone; Mohammad A Sahraian; Hartwig R Siebner; Till Sprenger Journal: Cerebellum Date: 2015-06 Impact factor: 3.847
Authors: Sean M Tobyne; Wilson B Ochoa; J Daniel Bireley; Victoria Mj Smith; Jeroen Jg Geurts; Jeremy D Schmahmann; Eric C Klawiter Journal: Mult Scler Date: 2017-09-21 Impact factor: 6.312
Authors: Marisa Loitfelder; Massimo Filippi; Mara Rocca; Paola Valsasina; Stefan Ropele; Margit Jehna; Siegrid Fuchs; Reinhold Schmidt; Christa Neuper; Franz Fazekas; Christian Enzinger Journal: PLoS One Date: 2012-08-17 Impact factor: 3.240