Researchers studied 21 patients with brain tumors and 21 healthy people matched by age and education at a neuro-oncology center. The main goal was to see how well patients could handle financial tasks like reading bills and buying items before and after tumor removal surgery.
Before the operation, patients showed significantly lower scores on financial tests compared to the healthy controls. The biggest problems were found in reading abilities and tasks that required buying specific items. After surgery, results varied: 33% of patients showed improvement, while 24% experienced further decline in their financial skills.
The study found that financial ability was linked to the size of the brain lesion and other cognitive test scores. A major concern is that both patients and their caregivers consistently overestimated how well the patients could manage money. This study highlights the importance of systematically assessing financial capacity for patients with brain tumors, as these skills can be easily affected by the disease and its treatment.