Preserved Cognitive Skills in Dementia of the Alzheimer Type
William W. Beatty, PhD;
Peter Winn, MD;
Russell L. Adams, PhD;
E. William Allen, MD;
Don A. Wilson, MD;
John R. Prince, PhD;
Karen A. Olson;
Karen Dean;
Dwight Littleford, MS
Arch Neurol. 1994;51(10):1040-1046.
Abstract
| |
Objective
To describe preserved cognitive skills in patients with dementia.
Design
Case series.
Setting
Community clinic.
Patients
Five patients who met National Institute of Neurological and Communicative Disorders and Stroke—Alzheimer's Disease and Related Disorders Association criteria for probable Alzheimer's disease and were claimed to retain a cognitive skill.
Interventions
None.
Main Outcome Measures
Standard neuropsychological tests and individualized measures of patients' skilled behaviors. For patients who remained skilled at games, performance was compared with that of normal controls in direct competition. For the patient-trombonist, raters compared premorbid and postmorbid recordings of his play.
Results
One patient continued to play the trombone in a Dixieland band, although he could not name wellknown numbers that he played. Another continued to solve adult jigsaw puzzles. A third patient retained skill at canasta, the fourth at dominoes. The fifth patient remained a skillful contract bridge player, although he could not name the suits or articulate simple bidding rules. Four patients had impaired performance on standard anterograde and remote memory and naming tests but performed normally on pursuit rotor and letter fluency tests. Mini-Mental State Examination scores for these patients ranged from 10 to 22. One patient refused neuropsychological testing but displayed his skill.
Conclusions
Together with previous studies of preserved piano playing or painting skills, our findings indicate that a broad range of complex cognitive abilities may be preserved in patients with dementia of the Alzheimer type who cannot perform simpler actions.
Author Affiliations
From the Departments of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences (Drs Beatty and Adams and Mss Olson and Dean), Family Medicine (Dr Winn), Radiological Sciences (Drs Allen, Wilson, and Prince), and Physiology (Mr Littleford), University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City.
 CiteULike  Connotea  Del.icio.us  Digg  Reddit  Technorati  Twitter
What's this?
THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES
|
Prosocial Capabilities in Alzheimer's Patients
Bosch-Domenech et al.
J Gerontol B Psychol Sci Soc Sci 2009;0:gbp034v1-gbp034.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
The First Therapeutic Game Specifically Designed and Evaluated for Alzheimer's Disease
Cohen et al.
AM J ALZHEIMERS DIS OTHER DEMEN 2009;23:540-551.
ABSTRACT
Ganstigmine and donepezil improve neurodegeneration in AD11 antinerve growth factor transgenic mice
Capsoni et al.
AM J ALZHEIMERS DIS OTHER DEMEN 2004;19:153-160.
ABSTRACT
Preservation of golf skills in a case of severe left lobar frontotemporal degeneration
Venneri and Shanks
Neurology 2001;57:521-524.
ABSTRACT
| FULL TEXT
Two new intergenerational interventions for Alzheimer's disease patients and families
Cohen
AM J ALZHEIMERS DIS OTHER DEMEN 2000;15:137-142.
ABSTRACT
Autopsy-Proven Alzheimer Disease in a Patient With Dementia Who Retained Musical Skill in Life
Beatty et al.
Arch Neurol 1997;54:1448-1448.
ABSTRACT
Presidential Disability and the Twenty-fifth Amendment
Miles
JAMA 1995;274:798-799.
ABSTRACT
Memory Deficits in a Demented Patient with Probable Corticobasal Degeneration
Beatty et al.
J Geriatr Psychiatry Neurol 1995;8:132-136.
ABSTRACT
Preserved Cognitive Skills in Alzheimer's
JWatch Psychiatry 1995;1995:7-7.
FULL TEXT
|
