Multidomain and long-term cognitive evaluation in malignant glioma patients

Aim: We performed longitudinal evaluations of the neurocognitive status in glioma patients to describe possible variations over the course of illness. Materials and methods: Glioma patients underwent a complete battery of standardized neuropsychological tests pre-radiotherapy at 6, 12 and 24 months. Results: We enrolled 130 patients, 67.7% of whom had a deficit in at least one cognitive domain. The most affected domains included executive function (n = 68, 52.3%), long-term memory (n = 46, 35.3%) and short-term memory (n = 39, 30%). At follow-up, cognitive status worsened in 31.5%, remained unchanged in 38.4% and improved in 30.1% of patients. Conclusion: This is one of few studies investigating longitudinal neurocognitive status in a wide sample of patients to monitor neuropsychological changes due to tumor progression and treatment administration.