Factors Affecting the Baseline and Post-Treatment Scores on the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised Japanese Version before and after Whole-Brain Radiation Therapy.
Our objectives were to (1) investigate the feasibility of the use of the Japanese version of the Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised (HVLT-R); (2) identify the clinical factors influencing the HVLT-R scores of patients undergoing whole-brain radiation therapy (WBRT); and (3) compare the neurocognitive function (NCF) after WBRT in different dose fractionation schedules. We administered the HVLT-R (Japanese version) before (baseline) and at four and eight months after WBRT in 45 patients who received either therapeutic (35Gy-in-14,n= 16; 30Gy-in-10,n= 18) or prophylactic (25Gy-in-10,n= 11) WBRT. Sixteen patients dropped out before the eight-month examination, due mostly to death from cancer. The Karnofsky Performance Status (KPS) 80-100 group had significantly higher baseline total recall (TR) scores (p= 0.0053), delayed recall (DR) scores (p= 0.012), and delayed recognition (DRecog) scores (p= 0.0078). The patients aged ≤65 years also had significantly higher TR scores (p= 0.030) and DRecog scores (p= 0.031). The patients who underwent two examinations (worse-prognosis group) had significantly decreased DR scores four months after WBRT compared to the baseline (p= 0.0073), and they were significantly more likely to have declined individual TR scores (p= 0.0017) and DR scores (p= 0.035) at four months. The eight-month HVLT-R scores did not significantly decline regardless of the WBRT dose fractionation. The baseline NCF was determined by age and KPS, and the early decline in NCF is characteristic of the worse-prognosis group.
Department of Radiology and Radiation Oncology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 1-757 Asahimachi-dori, Chuo-ku, Niigata 951-8510, Japan. 1rtkcyte@med.niigata-u.ac.jp.
Hirotake
H
Saito
Department of Radiology and Radiation Oncology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 1-757 Asahimachi-dori, Chuo-ku, Niigata 951-8510, Japan. ktanaka@med.niigata-u.ac.jp.
Kensuke
K
Tanaka
Department of Radiation Oncology, Niigata Cancer Center Hospital, 2-15-3 Kawagishi-cho, Chuo-ku, Niigata 951-8566, Japan. ayae-kanemoto@umin.ac.jp.
Ayae
A
Kanemoto
Department of Radiology and Radiation Oncology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 1-757 Asahimachi-dori, Chuo-ku, Niigata 951-8510, Japan. prague2657@yahoo.co.jp.
Toshimichi
T
Nakano
Department of Radiology and Radiation Oncology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 1-757 Asahimachi-dori, Chuo-ku, Niigata 951-8510, Japan. eabe@med.niigata-u.ac.jp.
Eisuke
E
Abe
Department of Radiology and Radiation Oncology, Niigata University Graduate School of Medical and Dental Sciences, 1-757 Asahimachi-dori, Chuo-ku, Niigata 951-8510, Japan. h-aoyama@med.niigata-u.ac.jp.
Hidefumi
H
Aoyama
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000401:mortality / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology* / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D003071:Cognition / Q000528:radiation effects*; D065187:Controlled Before-After Studies; D016371:Cranial Irradiation; D019583:Dose Fractionation, Radiation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017567:Karnofsky Performance Status; D008297:Male; D008568:Memory / Q000528:radiation effects*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D011379:Prognosis; D016019:Survival Analysis; D014706:Verbal Learning / Q000528:radiation effects*
Hopkins Verbal Learning Test-Revised; brain metastasis; neurocognitive function; whole-brain radiation therapy