Abstract
We conducted neuropsychological testing of 86 patients who had undergone operation for subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) due to ruptured aneurysm 6 months to 1.5 years after onset. All patients were assessed as Good Recovery according to the Glasgow Outcome Scale. The battery of neuropsychological tests consisted of the Mini Mental State Examination (MMS), Kohs's block design test, Paired associate learning test, and “Kanahiroi” test.
All patients examined by MMS 1.5 years after SAH were normal. Visuoconstructional cognition examined by Kohs's block-design test was impaired in about 40% and long-term memory was impaired in 20-60%. Further, 30% of the patients had frontal dysfunction investigated by “Kanahiroi” test. Multivariate analysis proved significant harmful effects of the neurological grade on onset (Hunt & Kosnik grade) on “Kanahiroi” test and paired associate learning test.
In a series of neuropsychological tests, the scores slightly improved by 1 year after SAH, whereas almost none of the patients exhibited improvement in test scores. These findings suggest that neurophycological deficits after SAH was permanent.
