Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry
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J. Neurol. Neurosurg. Psychiatr. · Jul 2006
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter StudyA multicentre, randomised trial examining the effect of test procedures measuring emergence from post-traumatic amnesia.
Post-traumatic amnesia (PTA) tests that record different PTA durations in the same patient, thereby raising measurement accuracy issues, have been reported previously. A major problem lies in determining the end point of PTA. ⋯ Although no significant differences in the duration of PTA on the MOPTAS/WPTAS were recorded, emergence from the late stages of PTA occurred more promptly with the MOPTAS. The need for inclusion of both orientation and memory items in PTA tests is highlighted by the frequency of disorientation-amnesia dissociations. The patterns of results on the independent measures suggest that patients who are in PTA for > 4 weeks have probably emerged from PTA when they first score 12/12 on the MOPTAS/WPTAS, and this criterion can replace the traditional criterion.