[The structure of mnestic problems in multiple sclerosis: everyday memory performance and neuroradiologic findings].

Abstract

35 multiple sclerosis patients and 30 matched healthy controls were investigated for mnestic problems using a German everyday memory test. The objects were both the description of structural characteristics of disturbances and "ecological validity" to meet rehabilitative issues prospectively. In the MS group, impairments were found mainly in the memory domain under delayed recall conditions of complex material. The processing of these tasks may be especially sensitive against fiber tract lesions. While discrete lesions, mostly found in patients with relapsing-remitting courses, inconsistently lead to partial memory disturbances, global mnestic deficits are to be expected in confluent lesion patterns exceeding a critical "threshold of cerebral tolerance." The latter characterises mostly patients with chronic progressive disease courses.