Part 2 book “Brain mapping - From neural basis of cognition to surgical applications” has contents: Neural basis of memory, pre-operative and post-operative functional magnetic resonance imaging and intra- operative assessment of mental spatial transformations in patients undergoing surgery for brain tumors, and other contents. | Surgical applications Neurocognitive outcome and resective brain tumor surgery in adults Martin Klein and Philip C. De Witt Hamer Introduction Patient performance is of particular importance to evaluate treatment outcome in the circumstances of incurable neurological disease. This is the case for patients with gliomas for whom palliation of symptoms and sustained or improved quality of life are equally important goals of treatment as prolonged survival and postponed tumor progression. Evaluation of treatment in brain tumor patients should therefore focus beyond oncological endpoints, and should also aim at avoiding adverse treatment effects on the normal brain to ensure optimal social and professional functioning. Functional outcome can be considered as a construct with several dimensions. These dimensions include neurological, cognitive, professional, and social performance of an individual, which can be represented by the health related quality of life (HRQOL). Cognitive functioning is one of the critical outcome measures because subclinical cognitive impairment can have a large impact on the daily life of patients [88, 127]. Even mild cognitive difficulties can have functional and psychiatric consequences –especially when persistent and left untreated. Deficits in specific cognitive domains such as inattention, dysexecutive function, and impaired processing speed may affect HRQOL. For example, cognitive impairment negatively affects professional reintegration, interpersonal relationships, and H. Duffau (ed.), Brain Mapping © Springer-Verlag/Wien 2011 leisure activities. In addition, fear of future cognitive decline may also negatively affect HRQOL. Compared to the classical oncological endpoints, evaluation of HRQOL and cognitive functioning is more time-consuming for the care provider and more burdensome for the patient. Besides, given the relatively low incidence of glial brain tumors and the often ultimately fatal outcome of the disease, the interest in .
