Case report
Cognitive impairments in the examination of a patient after surgical treatment of anterior cranial base meningioma – case study

Aim : The aim of the study is to describe and to compare the types of cognitive impairments in the examination of a patient before and after surgical treatment of anterior cranial base meningioma. The authors introduce the little-known tool of cognitive assessment named Montreal Cognitive Assessment (M^oCA).
Method : In the neuropsychological examination of the patient several methods were used: The Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test, Benton Visual Retention Test, Auditory Verbal Learning Test by Łuria, Verbal Fluency Test, Trail Making Test A & B, Rey Complex Figure Test, and Montreal Cognitive Assessment (M^oCA).
Results : In the two-time neuropsychological examination an improvement in cognitive functions was observed. The patient correctly performed the tasks which estimated effectiveness of orientation in place and in time, effectiveness of visual-motor coordination, and language abilities (naming, repeating sentences), and part of the tasks which referred to the attention processes (subtraction in series, correct reaction to the letter “A”). The patient had difficulties in indicating the time “ten minutes after eleven” (planning, working memory, visual-motor coordination), and remaining tasks – words and numbers (short-term memory, working memory, focusing the attention), verbal fluency and abstract thinking.
Conclusions : 1. Surgical treatment of anterior cranial base meningioma was connected with cognitive, emotional, social and occupational improvement. 2. Montreal Cognitive Assessment is a useful tool to evaluate the cognitive functions among patients with frontal lobe lesions.