gms | German Medical Science

66th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)
Friendship Meeting with the Italian Society of Neurosurgery (SINch)

German Society of Neurosurgery (DGNC)

7 - 10 June 2015, Karlsruhe

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Cognitive function of patients with neuroepithelial brain tumors

Meeting Abstract

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  • Jens Gempt - Neurochirurgische Klinik und Poliklinik
  • Jasmin Järschke - Neurochirurgische Klinik und Poliklinik
  • Yu-Mi Ryang - Neurochirurgische Klinik und Poliklinik
  • Lucas Schirmer - Neurologische Klinik und Poliklinik, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München
  • Bernhard Meyer - Neurochirurgische Klinik und Poliklinik
  • Florian Ringel - Neurochirurgische Klinik und Poliklinik

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie. 66. Jahrestagung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Neurochirurgie (DGNC). Karlsruhe, 07.-10.06.2015. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2015. DocMI.16.11

doi: 10.3205/15dgnc376, urn:nbn:de:0183-15dgnc3763

Published: June 2, 2015

© 2015 Gempt et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License. See license information at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

Outline

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Objective: Higher cognitive functions (attention, memory and executive functions) affect patients' quality of life and their ability to cope with daily demands. Influence of brain tumors on cognitive function remains predominantly unknown. We aimed to assess the influence of tumor entity, location and volume on neurocognitive function in patients harboring intrinsic brain tumors.

Method: Pts harboring neuroepithelial brain tumors underwent neuropsychological evaluation. The basic test battery included a Token Test and a Mini-Mental-Status-Test (MMST). To evaluate attention (TAP, subtests alertness, Go/NoGo and divided attention; d2 test; TMT A), memory (WMS-r, subtests digit and block span forward & backward; VLMT; Rey Osterrieth Complex Figure Test) and executive functions (TMT B, FWIT, RWT) the extended test battery was used. Pts with a MMST-score of 18 or below underwent basic test battery only. Moreover, tumor location and entity as well as tumor volume were assessed. Correlation analysis as well as multivariate analysis, to identify significant factors, which influence neurocognitive function were conducted.

Results: 103 patients were included. Mean age was 51 years (18 - 80, 49 female, 54 male; most frequent tumors: 49 glioblastomas; 13 anaplastic(oligo-)astrocytomas; 11 diffuse astrocytomas, 10 pineocytomas). Mean tumor volume measured in Flair-sequence was 42.88 cm3, mean tumor volume assessed in T1 (with gadolinium) was 16.98 cm3. Regarding MMST-score multivariate analysis revealed age, main tumor location (classified as: frontal, parietal, temporal, infratentorial, midline, multilocular with midline, multilocular without midline, ventricular), tumor volume (Flair and T1 with gadolinium), and involved hemisphere as statistically significant. Results of the extended test battery underwent correlation analysis and multivariate analysis as which identified the different risk factors influencing attention, memory and executive functions in detail.

Conclusions: Tumor size, tumor location, patient age and involvement of the dominant hemisphere are relevant regarding the impairment of cognitive function in patients with brain tumors. Different neurocognitive deficits of attention, executive function, and memory can be assigned to specific risk factors.