BOSTON: Patients with brain tumour-related epilepsy and cognitive disturbances could benefit from cognitive rehabilitation training, according to a new study.
The pilot observational study examined the potential positive impact of this type of intervention among a total of 100 adult patients with symptomatic seizures due to primary brain tumours or brain metastases who were receiving stable treatment with antiepileptic drugs.
Each of the patients had undergone a previous surgical resection or biopsy and had been able to stabilise their cancer. They were given a series of neuropsychological tests exploring their cognitive performance in various ways to test whether they had neuropsychological deficits, with 30 individuals considered to fall into this category.
The cognitive rehabilitation training program consisted of one hour-long individual session carried out by a trained psychologist each week for ten weeks. It focused on helping to improve patients’ memories, attention, visuospatial functions, language and reasoning using a software program called Training NeuroPsicologico.