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Post‐surgical effects on language in patients with presumed low‐grade glioma
Author(s) -
Antonsson M.,
Jakola A.,
Longoni F.,
Carstam L.,
Hartelius L.,
Thordstein M.,
Tisell M.
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
acta neurologica scandinavica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.967
H-Index - 95
eISSN - 1600-0404
pISSN - 0001-6314
DOI - 10.1111/ane.12887
Subject(s) - glioma , medicine , surgery , cancer research
Objectives Low‐grade glioma ( LGG ) is a slow‐growing brain tumour often situated in or near areas involved in language and/or cognitive functions. Thus, language impairments due to tumour growth or surgical resection are obvious risks. We aimed to investigate language outcome following surgery in patients with presumed LGG , using a comprehensive and sensitive language assessment. Materials and methods Thirty‐two consecutive patients with presumed LGG were assessed preoperative, early post‐operative, and 3 months post‐operative using sensitive tests including lexical retrieval, language comprehension and high‐level language. The patients’ preoperative language ability was compared with a reference group, but also with performance at post‐operative controls. Further, the association between tumour location and language performance pre‐ and post‐operatively was explored. Results Before surgery, the patients with presumed LGG performed worse on tests of lexical retrieval when compared to a reference group ( BNT : LGG ‐group median 52, Reference‐group median 54, P = .002; Animals: LGG ‐group mean 21.0, Reference‐group mean 25, P = 001; Verbs: LGG ‐group mean 17.3, Reference‐group mean 21.4, P = .001). At early post‐operative assessment, we observed a decline in all language tests, whereas at 3 months there was only a decline on a single test of lexical retrieval (Animals: preoperative. median 20, post‐op median 14, P = .001). The highest proportion of language impairment was found in the group with a tumour in language‐eloquent areas at all time‐points. Conclusions Although many patients with a tumour in the left hemisphere deteriorated in their language function directly after surgery, their prognosis for recovery was good.