Psychological and neurocognitive functioning in long-term advanced melanoma survivors treated with ICI

The emergence of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) has markedly improved the outcome of patients with advanced melanoma. However, this longer survival also means that we need to consider the psychological issues and neurocognitive functioning of these long-term survivors. 

From a poster presented by Ms Nathalie Vanlaer, psychologist at the University hospital Brussels, it became clear that 55% of long-term advanced melanoma survivors continues to have fears for recurrence. This is a striking finding given the fact that the median time since a complete remission for these patients in was 5.9 years. In addition to this, 51% of long-term survivors after ICI therapy proved to have some form of neurocognitive impairment. Most of these deficits were found in processing speed (41%), learning ability (31%), short- and long-term recall (26% and 23%), and planning ability (26%).

In conclusion, half of the long-term cancer survivors treated with an ICI experienced clinical fear of cancer recurrence and objective neurocognitive impairment.  These findings highlight the need to address the psychological well-being and neurocognitive function in this new group of cancer survivors.