Social Cognition and Language in Patients With Gliomas

NCT05764460 | Unknown

• 1 other identifier: 11351
• Study Type: observational
• Target: 105
• Locations: 0 countries
• Sites: N/A

Brief Summary

Patients with gliomas often suffer from lower quality of life, and detrimental social interactions after diagnosis. Two cognitive processes are crucial for maintaining healthy social relationships and interacting with others: social cognition and language. Social cognition is the ability to recognize and process mental and emotional states and to react appropriately in social situations. Social cognition and language are separate cognitive functions that can be affected in different ways in patients with brain injury. Also, distinct cognitive measurement instruments are used to assess both processes. However, there appears to be a certain overlap between social cognition and language. Reacting adequately in social situations requires both verbal and non-verbal communication and to communicate feelings, thoughts and intentions, people often use language. That is, verbal communication is part of a symbolic system that makes social interaction possible. Therefore, language abilities seem to be important to social cognition. Research shows that language is frequently impaired in adult patients with gliomas. Importantly, recent evidence suggests that social cognition can also be impaired in this patient group. However, no studies have been conducted into the relationship between social cognition and language in patients with gliomas. Increasing knowledge on the overlap between both functions, more specifically the influence of language difficulties on social cognition, will improve diagnostic accuracy. Eventually, this will lead to better, tailor-made treatments for these problems that negatively affect daily functioning. Objective: The main research objective is to examine the influence of language impairments on different social cognition processes, i.e., emotion recognition, Theory of Mind (ToM) and affective empathy, in patients with (suspected) gliomas. Secondary objectives are 1) to determine if patients with gliomas show impairments in different aspects of social cognition, i.e. emotion recognition, ToM, empathy and self-awareness; 2) to assess specific language impairments by looking at item-level characteristics of language tasks (e.g., analyses of word properties of fluency tasks, errors during object naming or spontaneous speech), and 3) to determine which tumor characteristics (low- or high-grade, genetic mutation, tumor location) are associated with different aspects of language and social cognition.

Conditions

Glioma, Malignant; Cognitive Dysfunction

Outcome Measures

Primary Outcomes (7)

• Impairments in emotion recognition

  FEEST

  10 minutes

• Impairments in Theory of Mind

  Cartoons

  10 minutes

• Impairments in social insight

  Faux Pas

  10 minutes

• Impairments in phonology, semantics, syntaxis

  Screeling

  10 minutes (total NPA approximately 3 hours)

• Impairments in naming

  Boston Naming Test

  5 minutes (total NPA approximately 3 hours)

• Impairments in fluency

  Fluency

  5 minutes (total NPA approximately 3 hours)

• Impairments in language comprehension

  SAN

  5 minutes (total NPA approximately 3 hours)

Secondary Outcomes (9)

• Impairments in memory

  10 minutes (total NPA approximately 3 hours)

• Impairments in executive functions

  2 minutes (total NPA approximately 3 hours)

• Impairments in speed and attention

  5 minutes (total NPA approximately 3 hours)

• Impairments in structured spontaneous language

  5 minutes (total NPO approximately 3 hours)

• Impairments in general language

  5 minutes (total NPO approximately 3 hours)

Interventions

Neuropsychological tests DIAGNOSTIC_TEST

Neuropsychological tests for general cognition, social cognition and language.

Eligibility Criteria

• Age: 18 Years+
• Sex: all
• Healthy Volunteers: No
• Age Groups: Adult (18-64), Older Adult (65+)
• Sampling Method: Non-Probability Sample

Study Population

Adult patients with a radiologically suspected glioma, referred for surgery (resection or biopt) in the UMCG, department of Neurosurgery, are eligible for inclusion.

You may qualify if:

• Patients with suspected gliomas, i.e. low- or high-grade gliomas.
• Age older than 18 years
• Sufficient command of the Dutch language
• Being able to understand the instructions of the NPA and to mentally and physically sustain/endure the assessment; this will be assessed in a consultation between treating physician (neurosurgeon) and investigator (neuropsychologist).

You may not qualify if:

• Serious neurodegenerative or psychiatric conditions (including addiction)
• Serious (other) medical conditions or physical inability hindering patients to come to the hospital
• Patients who need to undergo emergency craniotomy due to progression of disease

Sponsors & Collaborators

• University Medical Center Groningen: lead

MeSH Terms

Conditions

Glioma; Cognitive Dysfunction

Condition Hierarchy (Ancestors)

Neoplasms, Neuroepithelial; Neuroectodermal Tumors; Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal; Neoplasms by Histologic Type; Neoplasms; Neoplasms, Glandular and Epithelial; Neoplasms, Nerve Tissue; Cognition Disorders; Neurocognitive Disorders; Mental Disorders

Study Design

• Study Type: observational
• Observational Model: COHORT
• Time Perspective: PROSPECTIVE
• Sponsor Type: OTHER
• Responsible Party: SPONSOR

Study Record Dates

• First Submitted: January 25, 2023
• First Posted: March 10, 2023
• Study Start: July 1, 2023
• Primary Completion: March 1, 2025
• Study Completion: June 1, 2025
• Last Updated: May 17, 2023

Record last verified: 2023-05