Understanding treatment preferences and cognitive outcomes in patients with gliomas

Understanding how glioma patients value cognitive outcomes is essential to personalizing their treatment plans. The purpose of this study was to identify the modifiable cognitive functions most affected by treatment and most important to patient quality of life.

Patients with gliomas were prospectively enrolled in focus groups and individual interviews using a standardized guide focusing on cognitive functions until saturation was achieved. Patient values and treatment preferences were elicited and compared to the frequency of reported deficits. NVivo natural language processing software was used to perform thematic qualitative analyses. Quantitative analysis with Fischer’s exact test was used for each cognitive function to assess for an association between experiencing a deficit and rating that function as important to quality of life.

Twenty participants participated, of whom 60% were female. Racial identification consisted of 75% White, 15% Black/African American, and 10% Other Racial Identification. The cognitive functions most essential to the quality of life in this cohort were sense of self (80% of participants), memory (70% of participants), and communication (25% of participants). The functions that experienced the most deficits because of treatment were memory (65% of participants), concentration (65% of participants), and special senses (40% of participants). “Dealbreakers” to treatment were complete loss of independence, sense of self, and/or the ability to interact with loved ones. Fischer’s exact test showed no associations between experiencing a cognitive function deficit and rating that function as important to quality of life.

Glioma patients in this study prioritized cognitive functions according to memory, personal identity, and their ability to communicate with loved ones independently of experiencing deficits in these functions. Further study should compare patient prioritization and decision-making between surgically curable and noncurable grade gliomas as well as investigate the quality of life benefits of incorporating the connectomics of highly valued cognitive functions in surgical planning.