The Quality of Life of Patients after Surgical Treatment of Brain Tumours and the Location of the Tumour

Introduction. The location of intracranial neoplasms and the process of treating these lesions itself can significantly affect the quality of life of patients. Hence, the aim of the study was to investigate the impact of the location of the brain tumour on the quality of life of surgically treated patients. Aim. The aim of the study was to investigate the influence of the location of the brain tumour on the quality of life of surgically treated patients. Material and Methods. The study included 236 patients with brain tumours operated at the Department of Neurosurgery of the 10th Military Clinical Hospital with the SP ZOZ Polyclinic in Bydgoszcz. Patients with different tumour locations were included: in the temporal lobe, in the frontal lobe, in the parietal lobe, in the ventricles of the brain and in the extra-cerebral locations. The following questionnaires were used to assess the quality of life: EORTC QLQ-C30 and EORTC QLQ-BN20, in which the patients were tested three times: on the day of admission to the Clinic, on the fifth day after brain tumour surgery and 30 days after the surgery. Results. Patients’ quality of life decreased in the early postoperative period in all groups in terms of tumour location, especially in patients with tumours of the frontal lobe (-0.104) and ventricular neoplasms (-0.109) (p > 0.05). On the 30th day, however, an improvement in the quality of life was achieved in all groups, the highest improvement was obtained in patients with tumours located extra-cerebrally (0.115) and tumours of the temporal lobe (0.097) (p > 0.05). Conclusions. There was no effect of the location of the brain tumour on the quality of life of the studied patients. In the early postoperative period, the quality of life decreased, while it improved 30 days after the surgery. (JNNN 2020;9(3):91–96) Key Words: brain tumour, quality of life, tumour location