ABSTRACT
While neurocognitive symptoms are expected and often herald the diagnosis when patients present with intracerebral malignancies, patients with tumors of the skull base are also at inherent risk for development of neurocognitive symptoms, secondary to impingement and pressure effects on critical neuroanatomic structures as tumors in and around the cranial vault grow and crowd viable brain structures. Patients with anterior base of skull tumors (ABST) patients are further susceptible to cognitive symptoms as an unfortunate consequence of “incidental” neurologic involvement associated with common therapeutic treatments, for example, following radiotherapy to the paranasal sinuses (1). Furthermore, while surgical intervention has remained a “cornerstone” in the management of most patients with tumors of the skull base, more recently, improved patient outcomes have been associated with incorporation of other therapeutic strategies, such as chemotherapy in conjunction with radiotherapy (2). With the advent of more aggressive, multimodal treatment approaches, and improvements in radiation delivery techniques, the documentation of the cognitive sequelae of skull base cancer and its treatment remains essential.
