'Brain training' may lessen cognitive impairments associated with coronary bypass surgery

Public release date: 17-Sep-2012
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Contact: William Raillant-Clark
w.raillant-clark@umontreal.ca
514-343-7593
University of Montreal

Cognitive training helps to significantly reduce coronary bypass postoperative complications

This release is available in French.

Each year in Quebec, nearly 6000 people undergo coronary bypass surgery. Recovery is long and quality of life is greatly affected, in particular because most patients experience cognitive deficits that affect attention and memory for weeks or even months after the surgery. However, cognitive training helps to significantly reduce these postoperative complications according to a study that will be presented by Dr. Louis Bherer, PhD (Psychology), a laboratory director and researcher at the Institut universitaire de griatrie de Montral (IUGM), an institution affiliated with Universit de Montral at the Socit Franaise de Mdecine Physique et de Radaptation symposium in Toulouse, on October 20. He is also the Canada Research Chair in Aging and the Prevention of Cognitive Decline and a professor at Universit du Qubec Montral. The study was carried out with his student milie de Tournay-Jett and codirected by Dr. Gilles Dupuis from Universit du Qubec Montral (UQAM).

Speeding up recovery and improving quality of life

This study demonstrated that patients suffering from cognitive deficits after coronary bypass surgery could greatly benefit from cognitive training that targets both attention and memorythe cognitive functions most affected after this type of operation. "It is clear that seniors' brains have a certain degree of plasticity," Dr. Louis Bherer commented, "as we observed improvement in memory and attention even in subjects who did not undergo this training. In my opinion, this is a very useful discovery, as it suggests that patients should receive cognitive training in addition to the usual medical follow-up." What's more, benefits from the training are maintained over time.

Dr. Bherer wanted to know whether these subjects' brains maintained plasticity despite the patients' advanced age, in other words, whether training aimed at a specific function would lead to benefits for other non-targeted functions. Through regular follow-up over six months, the researchers measured progress in 44 patients over the age of 65 who were chosen based on whether they were in good physical and mental health before the surgery.

The study suggests that the development of cognitive rehabilitation tools would be highly beneficial for patients who undergo coronary bypass surgery as a way to speed up their recovery and improve their quality of life.

Research summary

The day before their surgery, participants took a number of neuropsychological tests to measure their cognitive functions, including verbal fluency, short-term and delayed memory, interference effect, psychomotor speed, sustained and selective attention, ability to multitask, etc. The subjects were then divided into three groups for the study. The control group subjects did not undergo any cognitive training after their operations. The second group received memory training followed by training that aimed to improve attention level. Finally, the third group received attention training followed by memory training. The patients retook the neuropsychological tests 3 to 7 days after their surgeries as well as 1 month later to measure cognitive losses. After the testing, 65% of them showed a cognitive deficit after 1 week, a deficit that was still present for 41% of them after 1 month. Between the 6th and 10th week after the surgery, patients had 4 sessions of cognitive training 2 times per week. The patients then took various cognitive tests again at 3 months and 6 months.

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Public release date: 17-Sep-2012
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: William Raillant-Clark
w.raillant-clark@umontreal.ca
514-343-7593
University of Montreal

Cognitive training helps to significantly reduce coronary bypass postoperative complications

This release is available in French.

Each year in Quebec, nearly 6000 people undergo coronary bypass surgery. Recovery is long and quality of life is greatly affected, in particular because most patients experience cognitive deficits that affect attention and memory for weeks or even months after the surgery. However, cognitive training helps to significantly reduce these postoperative complications according to a study that will be presented by Dr. Louis Bherer, PhD (Psychology), a laboratory director and researcher at the Institut universitaire de griatrie de Montral (IUGM), an institution affiliated with Universit de Montral at the Socit Franaise de Mdecine Physique et de Radaptation symposium in Toulouse, on October 20. He is also the Canada Research Chair in Aging and the Prevention of Cognitive Decline and a professor at Universit du Qubec Montral. The study was carried out with his student milie de Tournay-Jett and codirected by Dr. Gilles Dupuis from Universit du Qubec Montral (UQAM).

Speeding up recovery and improving quality of life

This study demonstrated that patients suffering from cognitive deficits after coronary bypass surgery could greatly benefit from cognitive training that targets both attention and memorythe cognitive functions most affected after this type of operation. "It is clear that seniors' brains have a certain degree of plasticity," Dr. Louis Bherer commented, "as we observed improvement in memory and attention even in subjects who did not undergo this training. In my opinion, this is a very useful discovery, as it suggests that patients should receive cognitive training in addition to the usual medical follow-up." What's more, benefits from the training are maintained over time.

Dr. Bherer wanted to know whether these subjects' brains maintained plasticity despite the patients' advanced age, in other words, whether training aimed at a specific function would lead to benefits for other non-targeted functions. Through regular follow-up over six months, the researchers measured progress in 44 patients over the age of 65 who were chosen based on whether they were in good physical and mental health before the surgery.

The study suggests that the development of cognitive rehabilitation tools would be highly beneficial for patients who undergo coronary bypass surgery as a way to speed up their recovery and improve their quality of life.

Research summary

The day before their surgery, participants took a number of neuropsychological tests to measure their cognitive functions, including verbal fluency, short-term and delayed memory, interference effect, psychomotor speed, sustained and selective attention, ability to multitask, etc. The subjects were then divided into three groups for the study. The control group subjects did not undergo any cognitive training after their operations. The second group received memory training followed by training that aimed to improve attention level. Finally, the third group received attention training followed by memory training. The patients retook the neuropsychological tests 3 to 7 days after their surgeries as well as 1 month later to measure cognitive losses. After the testing, 65% of them showed a cognitive deficit after 1 week, a deficit that was still present for 41% of them after 1 month. Between the 6th and 10th week after the surgery, patients had 4 sessions of cognitive training 2 times per week. The patients then took various cognitive tests again at 3 months and 6 months.

###

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2012-09/uom-tm091712.php

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