Apraxia related with subcortical lesions due to cerebrovascular disease.

OBJECTIVES

To examine whether ideomotor apraxia exists in patients with subcortical ischemic lesions.

PATIENTS AND

METHODS

A matched-control, prospective and multi-centered research design was used. Ideomotor apraxia, anxiety and depression were assessed by the Movement Imitation Test and the Hamilton scales, respectively.

RESULTS

Forty two consecutive patients with subcortical ischemic stroke and an equal number of healthy participants, matched in age and sex were included. Paired-sample t-tests showed that patients had significantly more apractic elements in their movements (t = 5.03, P < 0.01), higher anxiety (t = -2.55, P = 0.0014) and depression levels (t = -2.61, P = 0.012) than their healthy matched participants. Participants with higher anxiety and depression scores performed worse on the Movement Imitation Test.

CONCLUSIONS

Ischemic damage of subcortical modular systems may affect praxis.