Frontal lobe dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis

• Published in: Journal of the neurological sciences Vol. 195; no. 1; pp. 25 - 33
• Main Authors: Evdokimidis, I, Constantinidis, T.S, Gourtzelidis, P, Smyrnis, N, Zalonis, I, Zis, P.V, Andreadou, E, Papageorgiou, C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier B.V 15.03.2002; Elsevier Science
• Subjects: Aged; ALS; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - physiopathology; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis - psychology; Anti-saccade; Biological and medical sciences; Degenerative and inherited degenerative diseases of the nervous system. Leukodystrophies. Prion diseases; Female; Frontal lobe; Frontal Lobe - physiopathology; Humans; Male; Medical sciences; Memory; Middle Aged; Motor neuron; Neurology; Neuropsychological Tests; Oculomotor Muscles - physiopathology; Reaction Time; Reference Values; Remembered saccade; Saccades; Working memory; ALS; Anti-saccade; Frontal lobe; Motor neuron; Working memory; Remembered saccade; Human; Nervous system diseases; Pathophysiology; Central nervous system disease; Neuropsychological test; Psychometrics; Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis; Degenerative disease; Spinal cord disease; Brain (vertebrata); Saccadic eye movement
• ISSN: 0022-510X; 1878-5883
• DOI: 10.1016/S0022-510X(01)00683-9

The aim of the present study was to investigate the involvement of frontal lobe dysfunction in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) using ocular motor paradigms and neuropsychological testing. Fifty-one patients with ALS participated in the following ocular motor tasks: (1) a three-choice task and (2) a remembered saccade task. The patients underwent a clinical and neuropsychological evaluation. One-third of ALS patients presented with signs of frontal dysfunction, as determined by their high distractibility factors (DF) in the three-choice task and their performances in both the Wisconsin and Stroop tests. ALS patients exhibited longer latencies to eye movement than controls in the performance of the remembered saccade task, specifically in performance of both remembered and delayed saccades, but saccade accuracy was not impaired. Finally, performance indices of the ocular motor tasks, in particular the DF, was correlated only with the degree of dysarthria.