Abstract
The paper presents a study on the changes in cognitive functioning in patients undergoing chemotherapy with diagnosed multiple myeloma (MM). The aim of the study was to answer the following two main research questions: Does the treatment stage differentiate the functioning of cognitive processes in patients with diagnosed MM and to what extent? Is it possible to treat biological factors (TNF-α, IL-6, IL-10, and BDNF) as predictors of patients’ cognitive functioning? The patients were examined twice, before the treatment and after 4–6 cycles of chemotherapy. Selected neuropsychological research methods as well as experimental and clinical trials were employed to diagnose the patients’ general cognitive state, attention, memory, and executive functions. The level of biological factors was assessed with the ELISA test. The results show that the patients’ cognitive functioning was worse before the treatment than during the cytostatic therapy. It was also possible to predict the cognitive state of patients suffering from multiple myeloma based on a selected biological parameter (neurotrophin BDNF).
Highlights
As a result of analyses, a difference at the level of statistical significance concerning the general cognitive functioning measured by Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) was observed (t(20) = −1.989; p = 0.061)
It may indicate that a significant majority of the sample obtained results that are worse than normative within the scope of general cognitive functioning before chemotherapy and during the cytostatic treatment
It can be concluded that neurotrophin Brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF) can help predict the level of selected cognitive functions already at the diagnosis stage
Summary
Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The research reports to date corroborate the existence of changes in the cognitive functioning of patients suffering from cancer in response to oncological treatment [1,2,3,4]. This phenomenon is heterogeneous in character [5]. In order to increase the coherence of the data connected with the occurrence of cognitive changes in patients undergoing anticancer treatment, the common aim is to study credible and reliable causes of cancer-related cognitive dysfunctions (CRCD)
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