The impact of rehabilitation on the recovery of executive functions in stroke patients with different location of the ischemic focus

Abstract

Objectives Cognitive dysfunction is part of the clinical picture of stroke. Most of the executive dysfunctions are diagnosed in the early stage of rehabilitation, a few weeks after the vascular incident. Coexistence of executive dysfunctions with other disorders in stroke patients may hinder patient’s functions, slow down the rehabilitation process, and disrupt self-awareness, interpersonal communication, and professional activity in everyday life. Material and Methods Ninety patients after ischemic stroke were examined (right hemisphere stroke: N = 33, left hemisphere stroke: N = 57). The study group (N = 45) consisted of patients rehabilitated in the Department of Rehabilitation and Physical Medicine of the University Teaching Hospital of the Military Medical Academy in Lodz, Łódź, Poland, in whom a comprehensive neurorehabilitation program was implemented, consisting of motor and neuropsychological rehabilitation. The control group (N = 45) consisted of patients awaiting admission to the department, who were covered by comprehensive environmental rehabilitation including exercise therapy and neuropsychological therapy. Executive function was measured with 3 popular diagnostic tools: the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test (WCST), the Trail Making Test (TMT part A, TMT part B), and the letter test and category test with the Verbal Fluency Test (VFT). The tests were carried out twice: the first time before the start of rehabilitation and 5 weeks later after its completion. Results Although patients with right-hemispheric stroke showed better improvement in executive functions, stroke location did not prove to have significant impact on how effective the rehabilitation was. Conclusions Right hemisphere stroke patients showed greater improvement in restoring executive functions after rehabilitation compared to left hemisphere stroke patients. The location of the stroke did not significantly correlate with the efficiency of the rehabilitation setting. Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2024;37(4):452–67

Keywords

• stroke
• rehabilitation
• cognitive dysfunction
• executive function
• neurorehabilitation
• neuropsychological rehabilitation