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Neuropsychological Profiles of Children with Aqueductal Stenosis and Spina Bifida Myelomeningocele

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2012

Lyla E. Hampton*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
Jack M. Fletcher
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
Paul Cirino
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, University of Houston, Houston, Texas
Susan Blaser
Affiliation:
Department of Diagnostic Imaging, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada
Larry A. Kramer
Affiliation:
Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Imaging, University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston, Houston, Texas
Maureen Dennis
Affiliation:
Program in Neuroscience and Mental Health, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Canada Department of Surgery, University of Toronto, Canada
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to: Lyla Hampton, Department of Psychology, University of Houston Texas Medical Center Annex, 2151 W. Holcombe Blvd., Suite 222, Houston TX 77204-5053. E-mail: [email protected](email)

Abstract

We compared neuropsychological profiles in children with shunted hydrocephalus secondary to aqueductal stenosis (AS), a rare form of congenital hydrocephalus, and spina bifida myelomeningocele (SBM), a common form of congenital hydrocephalus. Participants were 180 children with shunted hydrocephalus grouped according to etiology: SBM (n = 151), AS (n = 29), and typically developing (TD; n = 60) individuals. The group with AS performed below the TD group on all tasks except for reading, and their overall performance was higher than the group with SBM, who had the lowest performance in the sample. Both clinical groups significantly differed from the TD group on tasks of spatial function, concept formation, motor function, and memory. Performance of the subgroup of AS children with normal cerebellum status approximated that of the TD group, while those with cerebellar anomalies performed lower than others with AS. Cerebellar abnormalities (present in the whole SBM group and in a subset of the AD group) are associated with more compromise of cognitive as well as motor function. (JINS, 2012, 18, 1–10)

Type
Research Articles
Copyright
Copyright © The International Neuropsychological Society 2012

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