Effect of the intervening homocysteine on cognitive function in patients with cerebral infarction

Objective:To observe the effects of the intervening homocysteine(Hcy) on cognitive function in patients with cerebral infarction.Methods:Seventy-two cerebral infarction patients with high Hcy complicated with cognition impairment were randomly divided into the control group and observation group(36 cases each group).The control group was treated with the routine method,and the observation group was treated with 500 mg mexobalamin by oral,three times a day,based on routine treatment.Before treatment and 4 weeks,3 and 6 months after treatment,the levels of Hcy in two groups were detected,and the cognitive function in two groups was evaluated using Mini-mental state examination(MMSE) and Barthel index(BI).Results:The difference of the level of Hcy in control group between before and after treatment was not statistically significant(P>0.05).Compared with the control group,the level of Hcy in observation group after treatment significantly decreased(P<0.01),and which was significantly lower than that in control group at the same time(P<0.01).The differences of the MMSE and BI scores before treatment between two groups were not statistically significant(P>0.05).The difference of the MMSE score in control group between before and after treatment was not statistically significant(P>0.05),and the BI scores in control group 3 and 6 months after treatment were significantly better than those of before treatment(P<0.01).Compared with before treatment,the scores of MMSE and BI in observation group 3 and 6 months after treatment significantly increased,and were significantly lower than those in control group(P<0.01).Conclusions:The decreasement of the Hcy level can improve the cognitive function in patients with cerebral infarction.