Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 10, 2026
A Mouse Model for Vascular Cognitive Impairment and Dementia Based on Needle-guided Asymmetric Bilateral Common Carotid Artery Stenosis
Published on: November 22, 2024
Ignoring floor and ceiling effects may underestimate the effect of carotid artery stenting on cognitive performance
Martin Scherr1, Alexander Kunz2, Anselm Doll3
1Department of Neurology, Christian Doppler Klinik, Paracelsus Medical University, Salzburg, Austria Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany TUM Neuroimaging Center, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany Centre for Cognitive Neuroscience, University of Salzburg, Salzburg, Austria.
Introduction:
Data on neuropsychological outcome after carotid artery stenting (CAS) remain inconsistent, furthermore cognitive outcome seems to be unpredictable in the individual case. Previous studies reporting improvement or decline might be due to ceiling and floor effects of the applied cognitive tests. We applied cognitive testing before and after CAS, avoiding the pitfall of ceiling and floor effects.
Methods:
In our prospective database, we identified 72 patients free of clinical stroke with ≥70% carotid artery stenosis, who were treated with CAS. They were administered a neurocognitive test battery before and 3 months after CAS to compare cognitive performance before and after CAS. To avoid ceiling and floor effects of test performances, we additionally analysed subgroups of patients without baseline floor and ceiling cognitive performance.
Results:
Pre-interventional to post-interventional cognitive performance improved significantly in the subtests measuring verbal episodic memory; deterioration was observed in spatial memory. The subgroups of patients without baseline floor and ceiling cognitive performance improved in measures of global cognition, verbal episodic memory (patients with left-sided CAS) and divided attention (patients with right-sided CAS); we observed no significant effects in the other domains.
Conclusions:
Ignoring floor and ceiling effects may underestimate the impact of CAS on cognitive performance.
More Related Videos
09:11Performing Permanent Distal Middle Cerebral with Common Carotid Artery Occlusion in Aged Rats to Study Cortical Ischemia with Sustained Disability
Published on: February 23, 2016
05:32Author Spotlight: Assessing Ischemic Stroke Damage Through Middle Cerebral Artery Occlusion Model
Published on: August 11, 2023