Matthew M. Antonucci1, 2, 3*, Derek A. Barton2, 3, Paul E. Link2, 3 and Frederick R. Carrick1, 4
1 Carrick Institute, Clinical Neuroscience, United States
2 Plasticity Brain Centers, Neurorehabilitation, United States
3 NeuroSynergy Associates, PA, United States
4 Harvard Medical School and Harvard-Macy MGH Institute of Health Professions, USA, Medical Education, United States
Background: A 76-year-old, male, previously diagnosed vascular dementia, presented with symptoms of memory problems, decreased cognition, and fogginess. Graded Symptom Checklist (GSC) severity was 34/162. Trails A (TA) was 55.4 seconds, Trails B (TB) was 117.7 upon intake. Processing speed was unable to perform upon intake due to processing speed delays which were enough to time out the program (>120 sec). Choice reaction time (cRT) latency was 629 milliseconds.
Methods: A five-day, multimodal program of receptor based neurological rehabilitation was administered three times per day, one hour per session. Each session consisted of electrical somatosensory stimulation to his right peroneal nerve, and the third branch of his trigeminal nerve with simultaneous right hemifield visual evoked potentials (red/yellow), vestibular rehabilitation exercises, neuromuscular reeducation exercises, core stabilization exercises, cognitive exercises, and off-vertical axis rotations.
Results: Following conclusion of five days of receptor based treatment, there were improvements in GSC (-14%), TA (-22.4%), TB (-31.4%). Processing speed was able to be completed with 30 correct symbols in 2 minutes matched and cRT (-20.4%) latency.
Conclusion: Short duration, multimodal, intensive programs of receptor-based neurological rehabilitation may be a viable method to improve neurological integrity and performance in individuals with vascular dementia. The authors suggest further investigation into short duration, multi-modal, intensive approaches to restoring neurological function in individuals suffering from forms of dementia.
Acknowledgements: The authors would like to thank Dr. Kelsey Brenner for her assistance in the treatment of this patient.
Keywords: Vascular Dementia, Vestibular Rehabilitation, Cognition, Reaction Time, Trail Making Test
Conference: International Symposium on Clinical Neuroscience: Clinical Neuroscience for Optimization of Human Function, Orlando, United States, 7 Oct - 9 Oct, 2016.
Presentation Type: Poster Presentation Topic: Abstracts ISCN 2016
Citation: Antonucci MM, Barton DA, Link PE and Carrick FR (2016). Improvement in symptom severity, cognitive assessment and processing speed in a patient with vascular dementia. Front. Neurol. Conference Abstract: International Symposium on Clinical Neuroscience: Clinical Neuroscience for Optimization of Human Function. doi: 10.3389/conf.fneur.2016.59.00049
Received: 02 Sep 2016; Published Online: 07 Sep 2016.
