Brain tumors and necessary treatments can have problematic effects on cognition, which means your short-term memory, ability to focus, and other thinking skills may not be as good as they were before you were diagnosed with your brain tumor.
Because your team of brain tumor doctors understands how this can change your life, we have created a Cancer and Cognition Clinic. This is the only multidisciplinary clinic of this type in the state and one of the few that exist in the country.
Our brain tumor team is nationally recognized for research on the cognitive changes that can occur after treatment for brain tumors. The Cancer and Cognition Clinic is a way for us to use our knowledge and expertise to help you in understanding and managing the changes in your thinking that can happen as a result of your brain tumor and brain tumor treatment.
Thinking skills cannot be measured with traditional brain imaging. Instead, we use simple tests to measure your thinking skills. By comparing your performance to others with your same age and education (or to your own prior scores) we can make recommendations for techniques and/or medications that may help improve your memory and attention.
These tests are not experimental and have been used for decades to objectively measure thinking skills. These tests are administered by the neuropsychology team.
To better understand the impact that your tumor and treatment may have on your memory and thinking, we offer testing when you are first diagnosed. This baseline testing can be used later to determine if you have any new problems with your memory or attention and make recommendations for ways to improve your thinking skills.