Postoperative changes of partial aspects of quality of life after retrosigmoidal vestibular schwannoma removal

Introduction Health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is gaining importance in counseling patients with vestibular schwannomas. The aim of our prospective study is to investigate whether sub-aspects of quality of life change between outpatient contact to immediately postoperatively.

Material and Methods The prospective study includes n=23 patients (m=10, w=13) at outpatient presentation and n=35 postoperative patients (m=18, w=17) with completed PANQOL questionnaire. All vestibular schwannomas (Koos I-IV, I:2x, II:17x, III:12x, IV:4x) underwent interdisciplinary (ENT/neurosurgery) surgery via a retrosigmoidal approach between 02/2019 and 10/2021.

RESULT: After accounting for the "minimal clinically important difference", there is a clinically relevant improvement in the "anxiety" domain (median: 75.00/100 vs. 81.25/100 post-op) and a clinically relevant worsening of HRQOL in the "general health" domain (median: 75.00/100 vs. 62.5/100 post-op). There was no relevant change in overall HRQOL during the course. The median PANQOL total score is 73.21/100 (47.92/100–90.48/100) at outpatient presentation and 74.70/100 (36.61/100–95.83/100) immediately postoperatively.

Conclusion and Outlook All patients diagnosed with vestibular schwannoma show decreased quality of life. In partial aspects of HRQOL, surgical therapy shows a clinically relevant change. The individual patient complaints reducing the quality of life have to be identified and treated.

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Artikel online veröffentlicht:
24. Mai 2022