26 Chapter 2 ABSTRACT Background & Objectives Radiotherapy is standard treatment for patients with brain metastases (BMs), although it may lead to radiation-induced cognitive impairment. This review explores the impact of whole brain radiotherapy (WBRT) or stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) on cognition. Methods The PRISMA-guidelines were used to identify manuscripts on PubMed and EmBase reporting on objective assessment of cognition before, and at least once after radiotherapy, in adult patients with non-resected BMs. Results Of the 867 records screened, twenty manuscripts (14 unique studies) were included. WBRT lead to decline in cognitive performance, which stabilized or returned to baseline in patients with survival of at least 9-15 months. For SRS, a decline in cognitive performance was sometimes observed shortly after treatment, but the majority of patients returned to or remained at baseline until a year after treatment. Conclusions These findings suggest that after WBRT patients can experience deterioration over a longer period of time. The cognitive side-effects of SRS are transient. Therefore this review advices to choose SRS, as this will result in lowest risks for cognitive adverse side-effects, irrespective of predicted survival. In an already cognitively vulnerable patient population with limited survival, this information can be used in communicating risks and aid in making educated decisions.
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