NC-02 * IMPROVEMENTS IN NEUROCOGNITIVE FUNCTIONS AND QUALITY OF LIFE IN PATIENTS WITH GLIOMAS AFTER AWAKE CRANIOTOMY

Abstract

OBJECTIVES: Neurocognitive deficit is the most common sequela in patient with gliomas underwent craniotomy. Such symptom might impact their quality of life (QoL). Awake surgery (AC) not only maximizes the extent of resection, but also preserve important neurological function, particular in speech. However, little is known regarding the changes of other neurocognitive functions and its effect on QoL after AC. This study was to investigate the changes of neurocognitive functions in acute (7 days after surgery) and subacute stage (3 months after surgery), and to examine the relationship between neurocognitive functions and QoL in patients with gliomas underwent AC. METHODS: Nine patients with gliomas occupied near eloquent area in left hemisphere received AC. Neuropsychological functions including executive function, memory, language and information processing were evaluated at pre-operation (T1), 7 days (T2) and 3 months (T3) after surgery. WHOQOL-BREF was used to assess QoL at the same time points. RESULTS: No significant difference was found in either measurement of neurocognitive function between T1 and T2. However, the scores of Trail-Making Test-A, Frontal Assessment Battery (FAB), and Sentence Repetition Test (SR) were significant improvement at T3 compared to T1. The Mini-Mental State Examination, FAB and SR significantly improved at T3 compared with T2. In terms of QoL, the performance on the Object Naming Test T1 was significantly associated with QoL in the social domain at T2, and the score of Confrontation Visual Naming Test at T2 related to QoL in the physiological, psychological, and environmental domains at T3. CONCLUSIONS: This study confirms the improvements in specific neurocognitive functions, especially language and executive functions during acute stage. Specific core linguistic function is associated with QoL after AC. A larger sample size is required for future study.