Mood disorders in patients after treatment for primary intracranial tumours

The frequency of mood disorder was studied in a cohort of patients with treated intracranial glioma or meningioma, where psychological morbidity was related to physical and neuropsychological functioning and to the patients' knowledge of their disease. Forty patients were assessed on a range of physical, psychological and neuropsychological measures, with additional interview of a relative to obtain supplementary information regarding each patients' knowledge of their disease. Two (5%) of the 40 patients had clinically significant levels of anxiety, six (15%) clinically significant levels of depression and 92% full or intermediate knowledge about their prognosis. Psychological morbidity was associated with high levels of physical disability and also with cognitive dysfunction, but was not related to the grade of the patient's tumour or the extent to which the patient was aware of the nature of his or her disease. A proportion of patients with intracranial tumours suffer levels of psychological distress sufficient to warrant psychological and/or pharmacological intervention.