Influence of carotid endarterectomy in cognitive functions / 中华神经医学杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To observe the influence of carotid endarterectomy in cognitive functions of patients with symptomatic carotid stenosis.Methods Forty-three patients admitted to our hospital and performed carotid endarterectomy from February 2013 to August 2014, were enrolled in the study.Cognitive functions of the patients were evaluated by Montreal cognitive function assessment (MoCA) and cerebral blood flow (CBF) by cerebral perfusion CT scan three days before and three months after operation, respectively.According to the MoCA scores after operation, the patients were divided into significant improvement group and non-significant improvement group, and their cerebral hemodynamics indexes were compared.Results (1) As compared with those before operation (24.1±2.2, 0.97±0.08), the MoCA scores (26.02±2.9) and relative cerebral blood volumes (rCBV, 1.00±0.08) three months after operation were significantly different (P＜0.05).(2) The postoperative relative CBF, rCBV and relative mean transmit time in the significant improvement group were significantly improved as compared with those preoperative indexes (P＜0.05);whereas, these values in the non-significant improvement group didn't show significant difference between preoperative and postoperative indexes(P＞0.05).Conclusion Carotid endarterectomy may help to improve the cognitive function in those patients with symtompatic carotid stenosis, and the effect might be associated with the improvement of cerebral perfusion.