SPCR-04 EFFECTS OF BRAIN METASTASES ON NEUROCOGNITIVE FUNCTION: BASELINE RESULTS OF A LONGITUDINAL TRIAL

PURPOSE: Neurocognitive dysfunction is common in patients with advanced metastatic cancer. The contribution of brain metastases (BrMets) to neurocognitive outcomes is uncertain. We examined the impact of BrMets on cognitive outcomes before CNS-directed treatment and compared findings to patients with advanced metastatic cancer without BrMets. Here we present results from an ongoing prospective, longitudinal study. METHODS: English-speaking adults followed at the brain metastases and lung cancer clinics underwent neurocognitive testing using a standardized battery (prior to cranial radiotherapy, if applicable), with follow-up assessments 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months later. We calculated z-scores and impairment rates for composite neurocognitive function and memory, attention/working memory, processing speed and executive function domains. Impairment was defined according to International Cancer and Cognition Task Force criteria. RESULTS: 78 patients with BrMets (50% female; mean age (SD):61(11) years) and 28 patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (mNSCLC) with no known BrMets (71% female; age 67(9) years) were included. Baseline neurocognitive composite scores were impaired in both groups (BrMets: 61.5%; nonBrMets: 60.7%). Impairment rates varied between groups and across domains (BrMets vs nonBrMets: memory: 35.9%vs25.0%; attention/working memory: 35.8%vs21.4%; processing speed: 10.3%vs7.1%; executive function: 44.0%vs35.7%). Subgroup comparisons between BrMets patients with mNSCLC (N=29) and mNSCLC patients without BrMets, none of whom had targetable mutations, revealed no differences in impairment rates, but BrMets patients had slower processing speed than nonBrMets patients (mean(SD): -0.6(1.4) vs -0.1(1.9); Wilcoxon signed-rank test, p = 0.043). CONCLUSION: Neurocognitive impairment in patients with advanced cancers is common. Our preliminary findings demonstrate no clear difference in cognitive outcomes between patients with BrMets and those with advanced metastatic disease not involving the brain. Our work examining how neurocognitive outcomes evolve over time in patients with and without BrMets, and demographic, disease, and treatment variables associated with those outcomes, is ongoing.