Internationale Zeitschrift für Physikalische Medizin und Rehabilitation
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Recovering and Worsening at Design Fluency in 22 Neurosurgical Patients: Preimmediately Post-surgery and Follow-up Testing

Barbara Tomasino, Dario Marin, Eleonora Madotto, Franco Fabbro and Miran Skrap

The five-point test (FPT) measures the ability to voluntarily generate non-verbal novel patterns. We investigated how this ability can be impaired or improved before immediately after brain surgery, and at follow-up. Twenty-two patients undergoing neurosurgery in the right hemisphere performed the FPT at T0 (pre-), T1 (1 week post-), and T2 (follow-up at 5 months after surgery). Significant improvements at T1 (in patients who had a deficit at T0) measured recovering (N=3/22); in addition there were patients who become pathological (8/22) and subjects who presented with the same degree of impairment as observed at T0 (stable, 1/22). Similarly, at T2 (4-5 months after surgery) we measured the effect of post-op reorganization: there were patients (5/22) who had been pathological at T1 and recovered at T2. Lesions overlapped in the right body of the corpus callosum/anterior cingulum reflecting the overcome of the deficit. Amelioration can be an effect of edema reduction. In addition, there were those who become pathological (4/22). Lesions overlapped in the right supramarginal gyrus. Lastly, there were subjects who presented with the same degree of impairment as observed at T1 (stable, 4/22) and those who remained spared (9/22). Multiple regression analysis was used to test if the number of strategies (CSs) used to solve the task or the perseverative behaviour (ErrI) significantly predicted participants' stratification, namely patients who worsened those who improved and patients who remained spared. It was found that the use of strategies significantly predicted participants' stratification, whereas perseverative behaviour was not a significant predictor.