Coronary angiography, PCI don't impact cognitive function

(HealthDay)—There is no indication of postprocedural cognitive impairment for patients undergoing coronary angiography (CA) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), according to a study published in the Nov. 15 issue of The American Journal of Cardiology.

Juliane Jurga, M.D., Ph.D., from the Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm, and colleagues examined postprocedural impairment among 93 patients referred for CA or PCI who underwent serial cognitive testing using the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) test. Participants were randomly allocated to radial or femoral access. The number of cerebral microemboli was monitored with transcranial Doppler technique in a subgroup of 35 patients.

The researchers found that the median precatheterization result of the MoCA test was 27, and the result did not change significantly four and 31 days after the procedure. The number of cerebral microemboli was not significantly associated with the difference between preprocedural and postprocedural MoCA tests. There was no difference in the test results between vascular access sites. Overall, one-third of patients had a precatheterization median MoCA test result <26, which indicated mild cognitive impairment.

"In conclusion, using the MoCA test, we could not detect any cognitive impairment after CA or PCI, and no significant correlations were found between the results of the MoCA test and cerebral microemboli or vascular access site, respectively," the authors write. "In patients with suspected coronary heart disease, mild cognitive impairment was common."

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