Comparison of multiple sclerosis and head trauma patients: A neuropsychological pilot study

Abstract

This paper reports the comparison of multiple sclerosis and head trauma patients on a battery of neuropsychological tests. Age-matched groups of 4 multiple sclerosis and 4 head trauma patients were administered the Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale—Revised (WAIS-R), the Weschler Memory Scale (WMS) and Category and Trail Making Tests (TMT) from the Halstead Reitan Neuropsychological Test Battery. Statistically significant results between groups were found on all variables with the strongest difference on the Category test and WMS (p <. 01). The concept of cortical vs. subcortical dementia could be used to explain these differences between groups of multiple sclerosis and head trauma patients.

Key Words:

• neuropsychological testing
• multiple sclerosis
• head trauma
• cognitive impairment
• wais-R