Open AccessProspective memory impairment following whole brain radiotherapy in patients with metastatic brain cancer
Author(s) -
Cheng Huaidong,
Chen Haijun,
Lv Yue,
Chen Zhendong,
Li ChiangShan R.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
cancer medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.403
H-Index - 53
ISSN - 2045-7634
DOI - 10.1002/cam4.1784
Subject(s) - medicine , cognitive impairment , whole brain radiotherapy , neuropsychology , verbal fluency test , oncology , memory span , prospective cohort study , prospective memory , radiation therapy , cognition , cancer , brain metastasis , metastasis , psychiatry , working memory , disease
Objective To investigate the prospective memory ( PM ) impairment following whole brain radiotherapy ( WBRT ) in cancer patients with brain metastases. Method Eighty‐one patients with metastatic brain cancer, agreeing to undergo WBRT , were enrolled and subjected to a battery of cognitive neuropsychological tests, including the mini‐mental state examination ( MMSE ), verbal fluency test ( VFT ), digit span test ( DST ), and event‐based and time‐based prospective memory ( EBPM and TBPM ) tasks, before and after radiotherapy. Results The patients with metastatic brain cancer after WBRT exhibited a significant decrease in the MMSE , DST , VFT , and EBPM scores ( t = 6.258, 10.192, 5.361, −5.892, P < 0.01), but nonsignificant decrease in the TBPM scores ( t = −1.172, P > 0.05). Conclusion There is significant EBPM impairment in cancer patients with brain metastases after WBRT , whereas that in the TBPM remained relatively unaffected. The result suggests that EBPM impairment may be as an early cognitive impairment marker in patients with BM who undergo WBRT .