Cognitive and neuroimaging outcomes of different treatment regimens for primary CNS lymphoma

Abstract

Evaluation of: Doolittle ND, Korfel A, Lubow MA et al. Long-term cognitive function, neuroimaging, and quality of life in primary CNS lymphoma. Neurology 81, 1–9 (2013). This study used a cross-sectional design to assess cognitive function, quality of life and structural brain imaging in primary CNS lymphoma survivors. In total, 80 patients treated with different high-dose methotrexate-based regimens with or without full-dose whole-brain radiotherapy were evaluated at a median of 5.5 years from diagnosis. Survivors treated with high-dose methotrexate-based chemotherapy and whole-brain radiotherapy had lower mean scores on tests of attention, executive function and motor speed, and had more white matter abnormalities on brain imaging in comparison to patients treated with high-dose methotrexate-based regimens without whole-brain radiotherapy. The strengths of the study include the comparisons across treatment modalities and the use of standardized assessment tools. The findings provide further evidence for the increased risk for delayed neurotoxicity following combined modality regimens.