Przestrzenna pami operacyjna u leczonych litem pacjentów z chorob afektywn dwubiegunow w remisji

The aim of the study was to assess spatial workingmemory using Spatial Working Memory Test (SWM)and Spatial Span (SSP) from Cambridge AutomatedNeuropsychological Test Battery (CANTAB) in a groupof euthymic bipolar patients on prophylactic lithiumtherapy.Material and methods: Sixty bipolar patients inremission lasting for at least 4 months and 84 healthycontrols entered the study. Duration of illness was atleast 5 years and prophylactic treatment lasted for atleast 2 years. Mental state of patients was assessed usedusing Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (HDRS), andYoung Mania Rating Scale (YMRS). All included bipolarpatients met criteria of remission defined as HAMD <8 and YMRS < 6 points.Results: Bipolar patients performed significantly worseon SWM for between search errors and strategy as wellas on SSP compared to healthy controls. The associationbetween tests results and lithium prophylactic efficacywas also found. Lithium non-responders scoredsignificantly worse on SWM than healthy controls.Excellent lithium responders showed similar results onSSP to those of controls, and remaining patients groupsscored significantly worse than controls. Between searcherrors correlated with the patients’ age, education leveland duration of illness, and SWM strategy use and SSPscores were associated with duration of illness andnumber of affective episodes.Conclusions: The results point to the deficits in spatialworking memory in euthymic bipolar patients and tothe association of these deficits with lithium prophylacticefficacy.