We evaluated the neuropsychological function in 46 patients with unruptured cerebral aneurysms who showed a good outcome postoperatively.
Seventeen patients (37%) showed deterioration of test results 1 month after surgery compared with preoperative evaluation. Although no patients showed deterioration on mini-mental state examination, Kohs's block-design test results had deteriorated in 5% of patients, “Kana-hiroi” test in 17%, and paired associate learning test in 28%. Age, presence of systemic diseases and aneurysm location had detrimental effects on these psychological examinations. Three patients (7%) still showed deterioration of test results 6 months after surgery.
These results suggest that the neuropsychological outcome after surgery for unruptured cerebral aneurysms was not satisfactory even in patients with good outcome, and that neuropsychological examination is necessary to evaluate surgical results considering the quality of the patient's life.