Assessment of executive function in patients with mild traumatic brain injury.

Abstract

The nature of functional deficit after mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) defined by Glasgow Coma Score of 13-15 is not fully described. This study explored the sensitivity of several neuropsychological tests to identify sequelae of mild traumatic brain injury (TBI). Eleven adult patients with mild TBI admitted to a Level 1 trauma center were studied. The battery of tests included the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children -Revised: Mazes Subtest, Trails A and B, the Boston Naming Test, The Multilingual Aphasia Examination: Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and the Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task. Control subjects performed significantly better than patients with mild TBI on Trails A and B, the Controlled Oral Word Association Test, and Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task (subtests 2-4). No significant differences in performances between patients and controls was found for the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children -Revised: Mazes Subtest, Boston Naming Test, and Paced Auditory Serial Addition Task Subtest 1. The results suggest that tests of specific frontal lobe executive functions are valuable in diagnosing and monitoring recovery from mild TBI.