Cognitive Retraining in Survivors of Sudden Cardiac Arrest

摘要

The purpose of this pilot study was twofold: (1) to determine whether two targeted cognitive rehabilitation interventions could improve memory functioning in these patients; and (2) to assess whether improvements in memory function as determined by standardized neuropsychological tests are accompanied by improvements in functional status as determined by self report, spouse assessments, and subject's performance on a novel task similar to those used during training. Four subjects, 3 males and 1 female, with a mean age of 61 years underwent both the mnemonic and control learning conditions. Neuropsychological test results indicated that with the exception of one subject (no. 3) all subjects increased their scores in attention and late recall achieving either normal or mildly depressed scores. However, only one subject was able to maintain these gains over the subsequent 2 to 4 months. In contrast, measures of functional status including performance on the novel task showed a sustained again in function which was augmented by the general memory strategies used in the control condition. Again Subject no. 3 showed more variable and less sustained improvements in function. These preliminary results indicate that computerized training using a targeted mneumonic strategy which focuses on the clustering of related items is potentially useful for boosting recall memory in impaired anoxic patients.