Quality of life in patients with skull base meningiomas treated with microsurgery: a prospective observational study.

Background: Skull base meningiomas are chronic conditions that can present with a wide variety of symptoms ranging from near normalcy to chronic and prolonged disability and also often worsen by treatment-related sequelae. Hence, it is necessary to investigate the quality of life (QOL) among patients with skull base meningioma and evaluate the impact of microsurgery on their overall well-being.

Methods: In this prospective observational study, 36 patients undergoing microsurgery for skull base meningioma were assessed for QOL using SF-36 questionnaires. Results were compared to the QOL of 36 patients with a non-neurosurgical chronic disease (diabetes mellitus) and 36 matched healthy volunteers. This study commenced from 2019 and ended in 2022.

Results: All QOL parameters in skull base meningioma patients were preoperatively significantly worse than in the healthy population. The most affected QOL domain were role limitation due to physical health (RLPH) and role limitation due to emotional problems (RLEP). Within one year after surgery, skull base meningioma patients showed a significant improvement of all QOL parameters. The domains of physical functioning (PF), emotional well-being (EWB), body pain (BP) and general health (GH) improved to similar values as their matched healthy controls. However, social functioning (SF), RLPH, and RLPE remained still significantly affected. Compared to chronic diabetic patients, the domains PF, EWB, BP, and GH showed significantly better QOL values after one year in skull base meningioma patients, but RLEP and RLPH were worse.

Conclusion: Microsurgery can significantly improve all QOL domains in skull base meningioma patients within one year. Physical activity, overall health, and mental well-being have been observed to return to even normal levels. While certain QOL domains may still be affected post-microsurgery, it is evident that microsurgery can yield a substantial improvement, ultimately raising QOL to levels surpassing those seen in other non-neurosurgical chronic diseases, such as diabetes mellitus.