Which is the Prognostic Value of the Mini Mental State Examination Test in Surgical Oncology?

Abstract

Introduction: Cancer patients are usually subjected to numerous surgeries during their course of treatment. Recent studies suggest that anesthetic drugs such as propofol, benzodiazepines, and opioids are linked to cognitive impairment. Aim: The aim of the study was to show and compare the cognitive function of oncology patients who have undergone surgery and have been sedated with propofol, fentanyl and benzodiazepines. Materials and methods: In order to determine whether the cognition of oncological patients is being impaired, a mini-mental state examination (MMSE) test was obtained 6 to 24 hours pre- and postoperatively for the duration of one month from 8 eligible oncological patients and 7 non-oncological ones. Afterwards, the data were statistically processed with SPSS version 25.0 (Chicago, Ill. the USA). Results: The analysis shows that there is statistically significant difference in the preoperative MMSE scores between oncological and non-oncological patients.  Conclusions: Oncological patients compound a sensitive group for cognitive dysfunction, and indeed, MMSE test could be useful for cognitive evaluation. The present sample, however, is small, and the results could not be generalized. Therefore a more extensive study is needed.