CENTER FOR COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE (CCN)
PATIENT DATABASE

MARIANNA STARK, Ph.D.
Patient Coordinator

DATABASE NEWSLETTER

DATABASE PUBLICATION

CCN PATIENT DATABASE

NEUROPSYCHOLOGICAL STUDIES OF FOCAL LESIONS

The purpose of the CCN patient database program is to build a comprehensive registry from which to draw patients for future cognitive testing. The goal is to better characterize brain-behavior relationships by studying patients with relatively stable, focal lesions (such as those resulting from infarct or tumor resection). All patients receive a neuropsychological battery meant to assess a variety of cognitive capacities, such as language, memory, perception, problem solving and attention. The results of this testing, along with lesion descriptions, are included in the database so that CCN researchers can find patients who are appropriate for their research studies.

In addition to the patient database, there is a database of non-brain-injured subjects who may serve as controls for the brain-injured population. Subjects who do not have a neurological diagnosis (e.g., stroke, tumor, Parkinson's disease) are eligible for participation.

Several publications are associated with the patient database program. A biannual newsletter is sent to both patients and non-brain-injured controls, and it has become a major way in which researchers provide feedback about their projects. Additionally, in 2008 Dr. Lesley Fellows (former CCN post-doctoral fellow with Dr. Martha Farah) authored a JOCN article in which she detailed key issues involved with establishing a patient database at two major health centers, the University of Pennsylvania and McGill University. In her article, the CCN Patient Database is described as a model for for building patient registries.

Marianna Stark, Ph.D.

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