TY - JOUR
T1 - Neuropsychological assessment and brain imaging technologies in evaluation of the sequelae of blunt head injury
AU - Shores, A.
AU - Kraiuhin, C.
AU - Zurynski, Y.
AU - Singer, A.
AU - Gordon, E.
AU - Mar osszeky, J.
AU - Fearnside, M. R.
PY - 1990
Y1 - 1990
N2 - A 43 year old man with a traumatic amnesic syndrome experienced only a brief, if any, loss of consciousness following an injury to the head. Four years after this injury, his results on standard psychometric assessment were normal. Long-latency evoked response potentials results were normal, and the neurological examination and computed tomography scans were unhelpful in explaining his amnesic symptoms. He had no history of alcohol abuse, yet his neuropsychological profile was that of a Korsakoff-like amnesia with frontal lobe features. Magnetic-resonance images demonstrated evidence of extensive frontal lobe damage, while cerebral blood flow studies provided additional evidence of bilateral frontal lobe dysfunction. The case highlights the need for those giving opinions in medico-legal head trauma cases to go beyond a reliance on routine indicators, such as duration of coma, results of standard psychometric assessment and computed tomography scans, to more specialised neuropsychological evaluations and magnetic-resonance imaging scans.
AB - A 43 year old man with a traumatic amnesic syndrome experienced only a brief, if any, loss of consciousness following an injury to the head. Four years after this injury, his results on standard psychometric assessment were normal. Long-latency evoked response potentials results were normal, and the neurological examination and computed tomography scans were unhelpful in explaining his amnesic symptoms. He had no history of alcohol abuse, yet his neuropsychological profile was that of a Korsakoff-like amnesia with frontal lobe features. Magnetic-resonance images demonstrated evidence of extensive frontal lobe damage, while cerebral blood flow studies provided additional evidence of bilateral frontal lobe dysfunction. The case highlights the need for those giving opinions in medico-legal head trauma cases to go beyond a reliance on routine indicators, such as duration of coma, results of standard psychometric assessment and computed tomography scans, to more specialised neuropsychological evaluations and magnetic-resonance imaging scans.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0025355251&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3109/00048679009062895
DO - 10.3109/00048679009062895
M3 - Article
C2 - 2334382
AN - SCOPUS:84907034395
VL - 24
SP - 133
EP - 138
JO - Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
JF - Australian and New Zealand Journal of Psychiatry
SN - 0004-8674
IS - 1
ER -