Article

Neuropsychologic evaluation is a primordial diagnostic tool.
Numerous tests explore episodic memory but few tests exist to assess incidental
verbal episodic memory or verbal recognition memory. This memory is however
impaired early in certain neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.
Our objective was to create a test sensitive and specific to this cognitive
dysfunction. METHOD: Our test was performed by 33 healthy volunteers and 51
patients (19 with idiopathic Parkinson's disease, 16 with Alzheimer's disease at
the prodromal stage and 16 with Alzheimer's disease). RESULTS AND DISCUSSION:
Independently of age, education level and global cognitive impairment, the young
and old healthy volunteers and the patients with idiopathic Parkinson's disease
displayed results significantly better than the group of Alzheimer's disease at
the prodromal stage and Alzheimer's disease patients. Our test appears to be
sensitive to dysfunction of verbal recognition memory. A score of 30/40 or less
on the Forty test discriminates 91% of subjects with a cortical pattern of
memory. This test could be recommended for clinical neuropsychological practice.
CI - Copyright (c) 2010 Elsevier Masson SAS. All rights reserved.

Langue : FRANCAIS