Hemispheric tumor location and the impact on health-related quality of life, symptomatology, and functional performance outcomes in patients with glioma: an exploratory cross-sectional study

Abstract

To inform high-quality rehabilitation services, this study investigates if patients with glioma located in the right-or lefthemisphere present with different health-related quality of life, symptomatology, and functional performance in the early disease state. Material and methodsBetween 2013 and 2017, 81 adult patients were assessed during the first week of chemo-radiation, following resection.Patients were stratified into two groups depending on a right-or left-hemispheric lesion. Independent t-tests analyzed potential differences regarding health-related quality of life, symptomatology, and functional performance. ResultsForty-five patients (56%) had a tumor located in the right hemisphere, whereas 36 patients (44%) had a tumor in the left hemisphere. Except for more patients with tumors in the left hemisphere having their tumor located in eloquent brain areas, the groups were well matched. No group differences were found in health-related quality of life. Group differences were found in communication deficits (∆-10.9, 95%CI -19.1; -2.3, p=0.01), which were more frequent in patients with left-sided lesions, and of headaches (∆13.9, 95%CI 1.8; 25.9, p=0.02), which were more frequent in patients with right-hemispheric lesions, who also had significantly greater difficulties with process-skills when performing everyday life tasks (∆-0.3, 95%CI-0.5;-0.1, p<0.01). Also, weak evidence suggests that patients with Glioblastoma Multiforme located in the right hemisphere are more affected by fatigue compared to their lefthemispheric comparisons (∆14.6, 95%CI 0.19; 29.0, p<0.05). ConclusionsThe hemispheric location of a glial-cell brain tumor has no consequence for health-related quality of life at the beginning of chemo-radiation treatments. However, findings of tumor-location dependent conditions of communication, headache, patients' ability to perform executive functions, and fatigue should be considered in rehabilitation situations when designing an intervention to potentially improve executive functions and relieve the symptoms.

The impact of brain lesions on health-related quality of life in patients with WHO CNS grade 3 or 4 glioma: a lesion-function and resting-state fMRI analysis

“…In newly diagnosed high-grade glioma patients, Klein et al [29] found that although tumor lateralization was significantly correlated self-reported difficulties in specific neurocognitive functions such as reasoning, problem-solving, reaction time, forgetfulness, and concentration, two higher-order HRQoL component scores (physical component scale, mental component scale) did not depend on the side of the affected hemisphere. Several other studies have also not shown any prominent differences in overall HRQoL between left-and right-sided brain tumors in the preoperative or early postoperative phase [34][35][36]. However, as expected, patients with left-sided tumors reported suffering more often from disturbances in verbal fluency, verbal learning, memory problems, and communications deficits, while tumors in the right hemisphere caused greater difficulties in process skills when performing everyday tasks [35,36].…”

“…Several other studies have also not shown any prominent differences in overall HRQoL between left-and right-sided brain tumors in the preoperative or early postoperative phase [34][35][36]. However, as expected, patients with left-sided tumors reported suffering more often from disturbances in verbal fluency, verbal learning, memory problems, and communications deficits, while tumors in the right hemisphere caused greater difficulties in process skills when performing everyday tasks [35,36]. These results suggest that measures of global health should be interpreted with caution, as this scale may be insensitive to detect changes over time or between groups.…”

The impact of brain lesions on quality of life in patients with WHO CNS grade 3 or 4 glioma: A lesion-function and resting-state fMRI analysis

“…In newly diagnosed high-grade glioma patients, Klein et al [26] found that although tumor lateralization signi cantly affected self-reported di culties in speci c neurocognitive functions such as reasoning, problem-solving, reaction time, forgetfulness, and concentration, two higherorder QoL component scores (physical component scale, mental component scale) did not depend on the side of the affected hemisphere. Several other studies have also not shown any prominent differences in overall QoL between left-and right-sided brain tumors in the preoperative or early postoperative phase [31][32][33]. However, as expected, patients with left-sided tumors reported suffering more often from disturbances in verbal uency, verbal learning, memory problems, and communications de cits, while tumors in the right hemisphere caused greater di culties in process skills when performing everyday tasks [32,33].…”

“…Several other studies have also not shown any prominent differences in overall QoL between left-and right-sided brain tumors in the preoperative or early postoperative phase [31][32][33]. However, as expected, patients with left-sided tumors reported suffering more often from disturbances in verbal uency, verbal learning, memory problems, and communications de cits, while tumors in the right hemisphere caused greater di culties in process skills when performing everyday tasks [32,33].…”

Prevalence and management of sleep disturbance in adults with primary brain tumours and their caregivers: a systematic review

“…All 34 included articles were published between 1998 and 2022, consisting of 16 cross-sectional studies [14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28][29], 7 randomised control trials (RCT) [30][31][32][33][34][35][36], 4 quasi-experimental studies [37][38][39][40], and 7 cohort studies [41][42][43][44][45][46][47]. The results of the included articles were informed by 4,694 PBT survivors and 120 caregivers, with sample sizes ranging from 12 to 621 with an age range of 18-86 years.…”