Neuropsychological performance in patients with subcortical stroke.

UNLABELLED: Vascular cognitive impairment (VCI) is characterized by cognitive compromise predominantly of executive dysfunction.

OBJECTIVES: To assess cognitive functions in VCI, focusing on executive functions, to observe functional losses in relation to activities of daily living (ADLs) and to detect early symptoms prior to the onset of dementia.

METHODS: We evaluated healthy subjects matched for gender, education and age to patients with diagnosis of subcortical vascular disease who had a stroke classified into three groups: 1) vascular lesions and no impairment; 2) vascular cognitive impairment with no dementia (VCIND); 3) vascular dementia (VaD).

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION: The performance on neuropsychological tests differed among groups, worsening with increased impairment level. The probable VaD group demonstrated impaired performance in memory, processing speed and verbal production, while the VCIND group showed attention deficits.

CONCLUSION: Impairment in executive functions and difficulties in ADLs allow us to differentiate levels of impairment in groups of subcortical vascular disease.