Development of the Bedside Neurocognitive Function Localization Test(BNLT) I : A Design

간이 신경 인지기능 국재화 검사의 개발 I : 고안

Recently, with increasing the number of patients with head injury and cerebrovascular accident, there has been an increasing need for the useful assessment tools of brain dysfunction and it's localization. With the advances in the neuroscience since the mid-1970s, particularly in the areas of neuroanatomical tracing, neuroimaging, and improved behavioraltest design, it has been possible to develop a more precise understanding and localization of brain dysfunction. However, these equipments are not readily available in the private clinics and too expensive to use as a screening tool to all suspected patients with brain dysfunction. Although several screening tests such as Mini-Mental States Examination(MMSE) or Brief Cognitive Rating Scale(BCRS) are simple in use and useful for the brief assessment of brain dysfunction, these are also limited in using for localization of brain dysfunction because of their simplicity. With increasing need of the assessment tool which is able to localize the dysfunction more precisely in the clinical practice, we planned to develop the new assessment tool, the Bedside Neurocognitive Function Localization Test(BNLT) which is suitable for this purpose. The BNLT was designed to be utilized for localizing brain dysfunction effectively and readily in the clinical practice. We introduced the whole process of designing the BNLT in this manuscript.