Examination Of Cognitive Dysfunctions Caused By Cerebellar Damage By SPECT Study

Based on previous research, It is known that the cerebellum has an important role in coordination, balance, and motor speech regulation. This regulation is done by bidirectional pathways between the cerebellum and cortical structures. Besides these, clinical investigations showed that some cognitive, linguistic, and affective disturbances were explained by cerebellar damage. However, it is unclear how affected the functional implications of the cerebello-cerebral connectivity by cerebellar lesions. In this regard, this study aims to describe the neurocognitive symptoms and behavioral characteristics of patients with cerebellar damage. In this functional neuroimaging through quantified ECD SPECT study, the neuroimaging data were obtained using Computed Tomography (CT) and/or Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to determine the precise localization and nature of the cerebellar lesion. Superior cerebellar artery (SCA), posterior inferior cerebellar artery (PICA), or anterior inferior cerebellar artery (AICA) were examined for vascular lesions. Additionally, all patients completed a neuropsychological assessment protocol. According to neuropsychological results, most of the patients had cognitive symptoms and/or behavioral-affective abnormalities. The analysis for lateralization of cognitive functioning within the cerebellum showed that left cerebellar damage related to right-hemispheric dysfunctioning could cause attention deficits, while right cerebellar damage related to left-hemispheric deficits, such as disrupted language skills. This study as one of the SPECT studies which claims the cerebello-cerebral diaschisis phenomenon is advanced as a possible explanation for cerebellar-induced cognitive symptoms, linguistic deficits, and behavioral abnormalities is shown consistency with literature findings.