Poster Session 02 Program Schedule
02/15/2024
08:00 am - 09:15 am
Room: Shubert Complex (Posters 1-60)
Poster Session 02: Aging | MCI | Neurodegenerative Disease - PART 1
Final Abstract #6
Pre-Operative Deep Brain Stimulation Cognitive Comparisons of Parkinson’s Disease and Essential Tremor Patients
Alexandra Bengoa, Advent Health, Winter Park, United States
Leslie Ruiz, Advent Health, Winter Park, United States
Karina Guerra-Guzman, Advent Health, Winter Park, United States
Benjamin Johnson-Markve, Advent Health, Winter Park, United States
Category: Movement and Movement Disorders
Keyword 1: Parkinson's disease
Keyword 2: neurostimulation
Keyword 3: executive functions
Objective:
Deep brain stimulation (DBS) is a neurosurgical procedure for the treatment of patients with Parkinson’s Disease (PD) and Essential Tremor (ET). Neuropsychological evaluations are essential in the screening process for DBS candidacy. The Symbol Digit Modalities Test - Oral version (SDMT-O) is a measure of processing speed. The Delis-Kaplan Executive Function System - Category Fluency (DKEFS-CF) is a timed measure of verbal semantic fluency. Current research suggests frontal-executive dysfunction in PD and ET in verbal fluency and processing speed (Cholerton, et al., 2021; Bermejo-Pareja, F., and Puertas-Martín, 2012). Direct comparisons of processing speed and semantic fluency between PD and ET for DBS candidacy remains limited. Our study aimed to examine differences between processing speed and semantic fluency in PD and ET surgical candidates. This study hypothesized the following: (1) DBS candidates with PD will be significantly slower than ET candidates on SDMT-O; (2) PD candidates will perform worse than ET candidates on DKEFS-CF.
Participants and Methods:
Patients at an outpatient clinic (N = 33) were referred for a neuropsychological assessment as part of an interdisciplinary, pre-surgical DBS evaluation. Comprehensive neuropsychological evaluations were conducted, including measures of oral processing speed and semantic fluency. Participant characteristics include a diagnosis of PD (N=17; male=52.9%; M Age=66.53; Caucasian=82.4%) or ET (N=13; female=53.8%; M Age=67.00; Caucasian=92.3%). Three patients were excluded due to receiving other movement disorder diagnoses.
Results:
An independent-sample t-test was performed to examine mean differences in processing speed in seconds between PD and ET participants. Results from 31 participants (15 PD, 12 ET) showed that PD participants (M=39.33, SD=15.56) were not significantly different from ET participants (M=41.00, SD=10.720) on the SDMT-O t(25) = -.315, p > .05, with the difference having a 95% CI [-12.55, 9.22]. Thus, our first hypothesis that PD participants would be slower on SDMT-O was not supported.
An independent-sample t-test was performed to examine mean differences in the number of semantic fluency words generated between PD and ET participants. Results from 31 participants (15 PD, 13 ET) showed a significant difference between PD participants (M=35.73, SD=10.95) and ET participants (M=33.31, SD=5.37) on the number of semantic fluency words generated t(26) = -.725, p < .05, with a 95% CI [-4.453, 9.304]. The difference presents a small effect size, Cohen’s d =0.275. Thus, our second hypothesis that PD participants would perform worse on DKEFS-CF was supported.
Conclusions:
Findings showed no significant differences between PD and ET participants on a measure of oral processing speed, while PD participants performed worse than ET participants on a measure of semantic fluency. Of note, these results were statistically significant but not clinically significant. While further research is needed, these findings may offer insights for neuropsychologists in pre-operative DBS evaluations.
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