We studied visuospatial function in 15 patients with idiopathic spasmodic torticollis (ST) and 15 age- and sex-matched controls. All subjects underwent a battery of visuospatial tests, assessing different functional components of spatial ability. The performance of ST patients on tasks of spatial perception did not significantly differ from that of normal subjects, but patients performed significantly worse on spatial tasks requiring mental manipulation of personal space. This distinct pattern of visuospatial impairment may result from basal ganglia dysfunction.
The here presented questionnaire is suitable for identifying distinct levels of subjective distress related to hypersensitivity to sound. Thus, for the first time, there is an adequate measure for assessment available. Furthermore, results of part of the sample show that the GUF is also suitable for therapy evaluation.
The article gives a clinically oriented survey of psychosomatic aspects in otorhinolaryngology. After a 50-year history of psychosomatic research in this field, the psychosomatic point of view gives a sufficient approach to a lot of diseases in otorhinolaryngology, especially to numerous and frequent diseases of functional origin, but also to problems of coping and psychosocial support. Different indications to psychoanalytic or behavioral psychotherapeutic treatment are discussed.
Neurological and psychological reactions to open-heart surgery are widely underestimated phenomena and occur in a much higher incidence than one might expect. When analyzed retrospectively, up to 3.8% of patients who underwent cardiac surgery at the Hamburg University Hospital exhibited these reactions, whereas 35%-50% presented with symptoms and signs of perioperative CNS dysfunctions in prospective studies at our department. About the same percentages are detected in prospective studies of the patients' perioperative psychopathology, stating that a great number of cardiac patients exceed the normal range of anxious, tense, and depressive moods in this setting. The consequences of these findings for the patients' quality of life and the impact for the perioperative management of patients undergoing open-heart surgery are discussed. The current prospective studies, preliminary results of which are presented here, are part of an international interdisciplinary study, initiated to bring more light into the complicated relations between ECC-assisted cardiac surgery, anaesthesiology, neurology and psychology.
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