Neurocognitive Impairment and stereotactic radiosurgery
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An observational study of neurocognitive function in patients undergoing Stereotactic Radiosurgery at Velindre Cancer Centre
IRAS ID
209029
Contact name
James Powell
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Velindre Cancer Centre
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Radiotherapy treatment for secondary cancer that has spread to the brain has traditionally involved treating the whole brain, called whole brain radiotherapy(WBRT). Technical developments now allow radiotherapy to be targeted precisely to small areas of cancer within the brain, called stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), and combining WBRT and SRS improves survival compared with WBRT alone. WBRT has significant side effects particularly on short and long term memory and even with SRS alone, around half of patients suffer memory impairment. The mechanism for memory impairment is unknown but it is thought that certain areas of the brain, such as the hippocampus, are particularly sensitive to radiotherapy treatment.\n\nStructures within the body are considered to have ‘tolerance levels’ of radiotherapy meaning that certain amounts of radiotherapy can be given to that part of the body before side effects occur. The radiotherapy tolerance doses for the hippocampus and other structures within the brain important for memory are not clear. Equally, the mechanism for how radiotherapy causes memory impairment is unknown but hypotheses exist for how radiotherapy may affect cerebral blood flow or cause physical changes in size or brain connectivity.\n\nIn this study we will conduct detailed assessments of patient’s memory before and at four timepoints after SRS treatment which will involve answering questionnaires, remembering lists and tasks involving the hands and we will perform MRI brain scans before treatment and at two timepoints after SRS. We will also calculate radiotherapy doses received by the brain structures important for memory in each patient and correlate memory changes with radiotherapy dose received by the structures and the structural or physiological changes seen on MRI scans. We predict that by correlating this information we will obtain important new insights into radiotherapy effects on memory and on the radiotherapy tolerance doses for these crucial structures when delivering SRS.
REC name
Wales REC 3
REC reference
16/WA/0374
Date of REC Opinion
13 Jan 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion