Long-term postoperative health-related quality of life in patients with subfrontal meningiomas

Abstract

Objective: Subfrontal meningiomas grow insidiously in areas with high cerebral compliance and a relative scarcity of eloquent function. Symptoms develop progressively, are nonspecific, and include anosmia, changes in personality and cognition, depressive symptoms, headaches, visual disturbances, and seizures. Patients with subfrontal meningiomas carry the highest risk of developing psychological symptoms, which makes patient-reported outcome in terms of long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL), anxiety, and depression of particular importance. This observational study aimed to investigate long-term HRQOL, anxiety, and depression in patients with subfrontal meningiomas who underwent a bifrontal craniotomy (subfrontal) approach between 2008 and 2017 at a single tertiary center. Correlations between preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative factors and HRQOL, anxiety, and depression were analyzed to detect prognostic factors.

Methods: Seventy-seven consecutive patients who underwent operations at Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen, Denmark, between 2008 and 2017 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients were prospectively invited to respond to the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-General, Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy-Brain, and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale. Information regarding preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative factors were collected from the patients' medical records and scans.

Results: Patients with subfrontal meningiomas exhibited better HRQOL and lower levels of anxiety and depression than general populations and other meningioma and glioblastoma cohorts. The only statistically significant prognostic factors for long-term HRQOL were number of symptoms at diagnosis and whether patients were discharged home or to a local hospital postoperatively. Tumor and peritumoral brain edema volumes were not prognostic factors.

Conclusions: Patients with subfrontal meningiomas exhibited better long-term postoperative HRQOL and were less likely to have anxiety or depression than the reference populations. This information on long-term prognosis is very valuable for patients, next of kin, and neurosurgeons and has not been previously studied in detail.

Keywords: anxiety; depression; health-related quality of life; neurosurgery; oncology; subfrontal meningioma.