ICU patients with non-brain injury may have undetected cognitive dysfunction



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Category: Health Info published by Syed Qayam Ali Published on: April 13, 2019, 2:16 pm EST Update: April 13, 2019, 2:16 pm EST

Washington: In a recent study, researchers found that most patients treated in intensive care units for non-brain-related lesions or diseases also suffer from a certain level of cognitive-related dysfunction that, in the most cases, is not detected.

The results were published in the journal PLOS ONE.

Many patients stay in the ICU for reasons that have nothing to do with a known brain injury, and most health care providers and caregivers have no evidence to believe that there is a brain problem .

For example, a patient may have suffered a traumatic injury that does not affect the brain, but still requires respiratory badistance to allow surgeons to repair damaged organs, heart or lung problems, a serious infection, or a serious infection. . may simply be recovering from surgery such as an organ transplant that has nothing to do directly with their brains.

For this study, the researchers evaluated 20 of these patients when they left the intensive care unit and each patient had detectable cognitive deficits in at least two areas of cognitive investigation, including memory. , attention, decision making and reasoning. Again, this despite the fact that at first sight they had no obvious brain injury.

The discovery was made using online tests, developed by renowned Western neuroscientist Adrian Owen and his teams at Brain and Mind Institute and BrainsCAN, originally designed to examine the cognitive abilities of patients as a result of 39, brain injury, but used for this purpose. cognitive deficits in people who have spent time in an intensive care unit without diagnosed brain injury.

"Many people spend time in an ICU after a brain injury and, of course, often suffer from memory, attention, decision-making and other cognitive impairments," Owen explained. .

"In this study, we were interested in seeing how patients with no specific brain injury could be treated right after leaving the intensive care unit.

The results were amazing, "added Owen.

Why cognitive abilities decline even during non-brain-related visits to ICUs likely vary from one patient to another, but Dr. Kimia Honarmand of Schulich Medicine & Dentistry said the lesson to be learned is that of many conditions affect the functioning of the brain, even if they are not directly involving the brain.

"If you have trouble breathing, your brain may be deprived of oxygen. If you have a serious infection, the inflammation resulting from the infection can affect the functioning of the brain. If you undergo major surgery, you may receive medications and interventions that may affect your breathing, which may also affect the delivery of oxygen to the brain, explained Dr. Honarmand.

"What we have shown here is that all or part of these events can lead to deficits in brain function that result in cognitive impairments. And healthy cognition is an essential determinant of functional recovery, "said Honarmand.

Dr. Marat Slessarev, a scientist at Lawson, said these findings may change the way the medical community treats new patients and, more importantly, outpatients after ICU visits.

"Historically, the clinical goal was only survival. But now we can start focusing on good survival, "said Dr. Slessarev.

"These sensitive tests will enable doctors to detect both cognitive impairments and cognitive performance, which is the first step in the development of processes to optimize brain recovery," Slessarev added.

Source: ANI

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