SynthesisLa Radiologia medica2026
Impact of whole-brain radiation therapy on neurocognitive functions, alopecia and hearing loss: a systematic review and meta-analysis endorsed by the Palliative Care and Neuro-Oncology Study Groups of the Italian Association of Radiotherapy and Clinical Oncology (AIRO).
Synthesis in La Radiologia medica, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
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Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
22 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
aimsWe search the literature on data regarding the role of whole-brain radiation therapy on neurocognitive functions, hearing, and alopecia, through the use of hippocampal-, scalp-, and cochlea-sparing radiotherapy (RT).
methodsProspective and retrospective studies with at least five patients were included in this analysis, following PRISMA recommendations.
resultsEighteen works were selected for hippocampal sparing, published between 2015 and 2025 with 1736 patients. Neurocognitive functions were evaluated with a heterogeneous range of tests (mainly HVLT-R, TMT-A and TMT-B, Cowa test, and MME). For scalp-sparing RT, only three papers were selected, published between 2014 and 2015, for a total of 65 patients. There was an important heterogeneity in terms of scalp definitions, CTV prescriptions, used techniques and doses, and methods and scales adopted to evaluate the clinical efficacy of scalp-sparing RT. Regarding cochlea-sparing RT, no citation was selected. A meta-analysis could only be performed for the papers focusing on hippocampal-sparing procedures. Only nine papers meet the criteria, showing a high heterogeneity (chi-square = 229.96, df 8, p < 0.001, with the I2 index (96.52%) and the H2M index (27.75)). For this reason, we opted for random effect models DerSimonian Laird, maximum likelihood, and profile likelihood, which provided widely overlapping results. Although the data show an average protective effect of hippocampal avoidance on cognitive performance, the meta-analysis, based on the available studies, is unable to demonstrate its significance.
conclusionsA high heterogeneity in terms of hippocampal-, cochlear-, and scalp-sparing RT was registered as well as different and difficult to compare data. Our findings indicate the need for further studies to explore this issue.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.