ABSTRACT
La neuropsicología se ha posicionado como un recurso esencial para la mayoría de las unidades de neurología, neurocirugía, psiquiatría y neurorrehabilitación, que atienden tanto a niños, adultos y adultos mayores, que padecen alteraciones del sistema nervioso central. El desafío de la neuropsicología es contribuir al proceso diagnóstico y al manejo de estos pacientes a partir de la evaluación de procesos cognitivos como atención, memoria, percepción, funciones ejecutivas, considerando sus manifestaciones conductuales y emocionales, toda vez que para la mayoría de las alteraciones neuropsiquiátricas no se cuenta con marcadores biológicos u otras técnicas que precisen el diagnóstico. Las alteraciones neuropsicológicas son manifestaciones comunes y, en algunos casos, centrales en varias de las patologías más prevalentes en neurología y psiquiatría. Este artículo presenta la definición, ámbito, objetivos y herramientas de la neuropsicología, y entrega una breve caracterización de algunos de los trastornos neuropsiquiátricos más relevantes, desde esta perspectiva.
Neuropsychology has positioned itself as an essential resource for most modern centers of neurology, neurosurgery, psychiatry and neurorehabilitation for children, adults and seniors suffering from central nervous system disorders. Its challenge is to help in the diagnosis and management of these patients through the evaluation of cognitive processes, such as: Attention, memory, perception, executive functions; taking into account behavioral and emotional expressions - since most neuropsychiatric disorders have no biological markers; and we have no other techniques that provide accurate diagnoses. Neuropsychological disturbances are common, and in some cases, the main clinical manifestation in these disorders. This paper discusses the definition, scope, objectives, and tools of neuropsychology. It also provides a brief description of some relevant neuropsychiatric disorders through this perspective.
Subject(s)
Humans , Child , Adult , Aged , Mental Disorders/diagnosis , Neuropsychology/methods , Psychomotor Performance/physiology , Cognition/physiology , Neurocognitive Disorders , Dementia , Memory Disorders , Nervous System Diseases/diagnosis , Neuropsychological TestsABSTRACT
Se presenta el caso de un hombre de 57 años que presenta un cuadro degenerativo con afasia fluente y moderadas alteraciones de conducta, sin defecto semántico significativo, agnosia visual ni agrafia lexical y su estudio imagenológico cerebral. Se discuten los conceptos de afasia progresiva fluente y demencia semántica, concluyendo que la primera puede evolucionar hacia esta última. Nuestro caso se encontraría en esta situación. Se señala que la patología de las afasias progresivas es variable, siendo lo más frecuente una degeneración frontotemporal (con o sin inclusiones de proteína tau); con menor frecuencia corresponde a una enfermedad de Alzheimer o una degeneración corticobasal.
We report a 57-year-old man presenting with progressive fluent aphasia and behaviour disorder, with no visual semantic loss, visual agnosia, lexical agraphia, nor alexia. We include in this report the brain images, and we discuss the borders between fluent progressive aphasia and semantic dementia. We conclude that fluent progressive aphasia may be the first stage of semantic dementia, noting that the neuropathology of progressive fluent aphasia usually corresponds to frontotemporal lobar degeneration, with or without Tau protein inclusions, as in Alzheimer's Disease or corticobasal degeneration.
Subject(s)
Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Aphasia, Primary Progressive/etiology , Dementia , Alzheimer Disease/etiology , Semantics , Language Disorders/etiology , Agnosia/diagnosis , Agnosia/etiology , Mental Disorders , Social BehaviorABSTRACT
Objective: to test the utility of cognitive stimulation in a group of healthy older people. Design: a pilot study in 11 healthy women from Conchali council. All of them were evaluated before and after stimulation using Minimental State Examination of Folstein (MM), Memory Wechsler Scale (MW) and Geriatric Depression Scale (GDS). Participants: were selected from a group of regularly participants in center for seniors, aged 60 years or more (mean 66,6 years old), able to read and write (mean scholarship 5,3 years). Intervention: 16 workshop of 90 minutes, twice a week during 2 months. They had motivation pantomime plays, memory activities and so on. Result: Wilcoxon signed rank pre and post workshop for MM was -2.633 (p= 0.008), for MW was -2.938 (p= 0.003) and for GDS was -2.943 (p= 0.03) Conclusions: cognitive stimulation could be useful in older people. It is necessary to increase the sample