Glioblastoma Multiforme and Cognitive Decline: Towards A More Precise Prognostic Assessment

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Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) is the most prevalent, fast-growing, and lethal form of primary brain tumor in adults. As GBM grows, it infiltrates different lobes, decreasing cognitive function in a pattern-like manner. This decrease remains crudely tracked, and if it were to be studied more in depth, the inaccurate prognoses of GBM patients could be more accurate. This paper reviews how GBM affects cognitive function (specifically via frontal/temporal lobe involvement), evaluates current cognitive assessment tools, and proposes cognitive tracking as an underused prognostic marker. PTEN loss and EGFR amplification, molecular markers that indicate a worse prognosis, are associated with tumor aggressiveness that in turn contributes to cognitive decline. Furthermore, retrospective analysis of GBM cases where cognitive function was tracked found that in past cases, poor cognitive function was directly related to a shorter life-expectancy. Due to their deficient nature, this paper addresses the limitations of current tools currently used to measure cognitive function such as education bias, cost, validity, or time. Moreover, it discusses future solutions to the problem, touching on better cognitive prognostic tools like separate tests, add-ons to current tests, and the use of artificial intelligence to properly measure cognitive function.