Cognitive function and radiation

This dataset contains results collected in a pre-clinical project that looks at the effect of radiation on neurocognitive function using an animal model. Radiotherapy remains a mainstay in the management of adult brain tumours. Unfortunately, 50 to 90% of the surviving patients develop progressive neurocognitive dysfunction severely affecting quality of life. The pathogenesis of radiation-induced neurocognitive dysfunction is not well understood. In this dataset we developed a pre-clinical animal model to assess the effect of whole brain and partial brain irradiation on neurocognitive outcome. Data include results from behavioural tests assessing memory, learning and locomotor function, as well as some initial data on PET imaging and the histological analysis of brain tissues.