THE DYNAMICS OF PSYCHOPHYSIOLOGICAL INDICATORS OF VISUAL PERCEPTION OF PATIENTS DURING THE REHABILITATION AFTER CORONARY ARTERY BYPASS GRAFTING (EVIDENCE FROM RECOGNITION OF FRAGMENTED IMAGES)

Abstract

Despite the current level of development of cardiac surgery technologies, the postoperative
period is often complicated by cognitive impairments. Numerous previous studies have demonstrated the specificity of cognitive deficits occurring after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). However, the question of the pathogenesis of these disorders remains open. In this regard, the authors attempted to study the characteristics of visual perception and cognitive processing of visual images of patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) using a fundamentally different methods previously not used for these purposes in such patients. The paper focuses on studying the characteristics and dynamics of perception of fragmented images in patients with CHD who underwent CABG, as well as on a comparison of thresholds recognition of incomplete images in patients with CHD undergoing conservative and surgical treatment.
The study involved 107 patients (of average age 61,21 ± 7,3 years), including 86 patients
enrolled in the experimental group and 21 – in the control group. The examination was performed in three stages: one or two days before CABG, 12–14 days and three months after the surgery. We used the following psychophysiological methods: "Visual acuity" test and "Gollin-test."
As a result of the study, it was found that patients with CHD undergoing conservative and
surgical treatment do not differ in visual acuity. It was shown that immediately after CABG ability to recognize fragmented images is deteriorated. However, three months after CABG the investigated ability not only restored, but also exceeded the preoperative level. Moreover, patients significantly better cope with the proposed tasks three months after surgery than patients undergoing conservative treatment.