Assessing Atrophy and Neurocognitive Decline in Hippocampal Subfields After Fractionated Brain Radiation Therapy

Summary: Radiation therapy (RT) is indispensable in the management of primary brain tumors, however many patients will inevitably experience some degree of neurocognitive decline. This relationship has been best established in a large body of research examining the hippocampus and changes in memory after treatment. We have previously described that dose-dependent atrophy can be seen in the hippocampus, yet just as the brain is a complex and interconnected organ the hippocampus itself has many subfields which subserve different components of memory. Here we examine changes in hippocampal subfield volume after RT, in relation to dose and time from treatment, as well as the association between these changes and decline in verbal and visuospatial memory.