ANALELE UNIVERSITĂŢII “DUNĂREA DE JOS” GALAŢI MEDICINĂ FASCICULA XVII, no 2, 2011 23 ORIGINAL STUDY NEURO-PSYCHOLOGICAL FUNCTIONS IN DRIVERS WITH CHRONIC RESPIRATORY FAILURE SECONDARY TO CHRONIC OBSTRUCTIVE PULMONARY DISEASE Lucia A. D’Anna, Biagio Valentino, Francesco Cappello, Fabio Bucchieri, Francesca Cracolici, Giulia Civitenga, Valentina Bucchieri, Silvestro E. D’Anna, Giovanni Peri Department of Experimental Biomedicine and Clinical Neurosciences, University of Palermo, Palermo, Italy. ABSTRACT This work aim at investigating selective-cognitive disfunctions in a sample of drivers suffering from chronic respiratory failure secondary to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), in order to: 1) verify whether deficits of global cognitive and/or neuropsychological functions were present in drivers suffering from chronic respiratory failure secondary to COPD; 2) determine influence of chronic respiratory failure secondary to COPD on cognitive and neuro-psychological functions; 3) assess a suiting evaluation protocol based on quantifiable, reproducible and verifiable parameters. The present study is one of the few which had investigated and found selective-cognitive disfunctions in a sample of drivers with chronic respiratory failure secondary to COPD, in order to assess an evaluation protocol based on quantifiable and verifiable parameters. KEYWORDS: respiratory functions; verbal memory; short and long term visuo-spatial memory; attention, executive functions; praxis. 1. Introduction Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (i.e. COPD) had many names in the past including: Chronic Obstructive Airways Disease, (COAD); Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease, (COLD); Chronic Airflow Limitation, (CAL or CAFL) and Chronic Airflow Obstruction. COPD actually comprises two related diseases, chronic bronchitis and emphysema, one rarely occurring without a degree of the other. The definition of COPD, that is recognized by both the American Thoracic Society and the European Respiratory Society, is a disorder that is characterized by reduced maximal expiratory flow and slow forced emptying of the lungs; features that do not change markedly over several months. COPD is characterized by airflow limitation caused by chronic bronchitis or emphysema. Frequently, this limitation in airflow is not reversible or only minimally reversible with bronchodilators. Reversible bronchoconstriction