We sought to understand the baseline cognitive status in patients with benign and low grade tumors prior to RT. We also evaluated factors associated with cognitive decline at baseline.

Patients receiving cranial RT often experience cognitive impairment, but it is difficult to characterize the contribution from RT without understanding baseline deficits from tumor and other treatments. While patients with benign and low grade tumors are expected to have few tumor-related cognitive deficits, this population includes a variety of tumor types and many of these patients have comorbid conditions or receive treatments like surgery.

We prospectively enrolled a cohort of 42 patients (mean age 58) with benign and low grade tumors who had not previously received RT. Patients completed a baseline neurocognitive battery including HVLT-R, TMT-A, TMA-B, and BVMT-R and the Perceived Cognitive Impairment subscale (PCI-18), a measure of patient-reported cognition, prior to RT.

In a prospective cohort of benign and low grade brain tumor patients, a significant percentage of subjects had below average scores on objective neurocognitive testing and impairment on a patient-reported cognition measure. This emphasizes the need for baseline testing prior to radiation in studies that evaluate radiation toxicity in brain tumor patients.