CLIN-NEURO-COGNITIVE

CLIN-NEURO-COGNITIVE NC-02. ASSESSING NEURO-COGNITIVE STATUS IN NEWLY PRESENTING PATIENTS WITH SUPRATENTORIAL INTRACRANIAL TUMOURS. Jennifer L. Scotland1, Ian R. Whittle1, and Ian J. Deary2; University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom; Centre for Cognitive Ageing and Cognitive Epidemiology, Dept. of Psychology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, United Kingdom INTRODUCTION: Neurocognitive endpoints are increasingly included in clinical trials in neuro-oncological settings (Meyers & Brown, 2006). There is a need to identify short, repeatable measures of cognition that are sensitive to impairment in this group. Previous authors have proposed such batteries. METHODS: Newly presenting patients with a radiological diagnosis of any intracranial tumour (n 1⁄4 118) were assessed, prior to any surgical intervention, on a number of standardised cognitive and other measures as part of a larger study (Scotland et al., 2012). Their performance was compared with that of patients admitted for elective spinal surgery (n 1⁄4 85) and a healthy control group (n 1⁄4 80). RESULTS: Analysis of covariance compared the performance of the three groups. Age, sex, and National Adult Reading Test score (used to assess premorbid function) were the covariates. Patients with intracranial tumours performed significantly worse on the majority of the tests. The intracranial tumour cohort had significantly lower scores than did the spinal surgery and healthy control groups on the following measures: immediate and delayed memory (Rey Auditory Verbal Learning Test, RAVLT; p , 0.001); Trail Making Test Part B (p , 0.001); digit-symbol coding (p , 0.001); and verbal fluency (Controlled Oral Word Association Test, COWAT; p 1⁄4 0.002 and p , 0.001, respectively). There was a moderate-to-large effect size in the participant group for all tests. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSIONS: The RAVLT, Trail Making Test Part B, and COWAT are sensitive measures of cognitive impairment in patients with brain tumours and support Meyers & Brown’s (2006) proposal for the inclusion of these tests in clinical trials that have neurocognitive endpoints. The verbal fluency test, in particular, has a number of potential advantages for use in neuro-oncological settings, given that it can be completed by patients with focal motor deficits and is available in alternate forms to reduce practice effects. NC-03. A STANDARD NEUROLINGUISTIC APPROACH TO