Cognitive changes are associated with increased blood-brain barrier leakage in non-brain metastases lung cancer patients

To explore the relationship between cognitive function and blood–brain barrier leakage in non-brain metastasis lung cancer and healthy controls. 75 lung cancers without brain metastasis and 29 healthy controls matched with age, sex, and education were evaluated by cognitive assessment, and the Patlak pharmacokinetic model was used to calculate the average leakage in each brain region according to the automated anatomical labeling atlas. After that, the relationships between cognitive and blood–brain barrier leakage were evaluated. Compared with healthy controls, the leakage of bilateral temporal gyrus and whole brain gyrus were higher in patients with lung cancers (P < 0.05), mainly in patients with advanced lung cancer (P < 0.05), but not in patients with early lung cancer (P > 0.05). The cognitive impairment of advanced lung cancers was mainly reflected in the damage of visuospatial/executive, and delayed recall. The left temporal gyrus with increased blood–brain barrier leakage showed negative correlations with delayed recall (r = -0.201, P = 0.042). An increase in blood–brain barrier leakage was found in non-brain metastases advanced lung cancers that corresponded to decreased delayed recall. With progression in lung cancer staging, blood–brain barrier shows higher leakage and may lead to brain metastases and lower cognitive development. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s11682-022-00745-3.