Background: Tumors of the brain, whether intra- or extra-axial, results in cognitive deficits.
The aim of the present study was to profile cognitive deficits using Addenbrooke's
Cognitive Examination-Malayalam (ACE-M) as a screen and to determine the sensitivity
and specificity of the same. Methods: Seventy-four drug naïve patients diagnosed to have brain tumors were assessed for
cognitive functioning using ACE-M before surgery. Results: Patients with high-grade intra-axial tumors showed a significant association on the
cognitive domains of registration (0.04), recall (0.01), and visuospatial functioning
(0.02). Gender showed an association between registration (0.02) and verbal fluency
(0.02) with females performing better while education was significantly associated
with retrograde or remote memory (0.00) with college-educated sample performing better.
Significance was assumed at P < 0.05. In extra-axial tumors, laterality had a single
association with recall (0.02). Males showed a significant cognitive decline on the
cognitive domains of attention (0.02), recall (0.05), naming (0.02), and language
functions (0.01). College educated group performed better on registration (0.01),
recall (0.09), naming (0.00), and visuospatial functioning (0.00). The area under
the receiver operating characteristic curve was estimated as 0.75, which indicates
fairly good discriminative ability with a cut off of 71/100; sensitivity at 77.3 and
specificity fixed at 67. Conclusions: ACE-M is capable of bringing out cognitive deficits along with a number of cognitive
domains in patients with intra- and extra-axial tumors in the capacity of a screen,
with fairly good levels of sensitivity and specificity.
Key-words:
Addenbrooke's Cognitive Examination - cognitive deficits - intra- and extra-axial
tumors
