Quality of Life in Vestibular Schwannoma Patients: A Longitudinal Study

To examine differences in quality of life in patients with vestibular schwannoma following a single treatment modality: observation, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), or microsurgery.

Retrospective review.

Tertiary academic medical center.

Patients diagnosed with sporadic vestibular schwannoma who had completed at least 2 Penn Acoustic Neuroma Quality of Life (PANQOL) surveys.

Treatment via SRS, microsurgery, or observation.

PANQOL total survey and subdomain scores.

One hundred and thirty-four patients (94 observations, 24 SRS, 16 microsurgeries) were included. The mean number of PANQOL surveys completed was 2.8 (range 2-5). The total PANQOL scores were significantly lower in the SRS group, but not the microsurgery group, compared with observation at the time of diagnosis (observation 550.4 ± 58.4; SRS 471.4 ± 37.4; microsurgery 492.6 ± 40.7; p = 0.03). Over time, there were no significant differences in the change of PANQOL scores across the 3 groups (SRS PANQOL score worsened 6.8/year compared with observation, p = 0.3; microsurgery PANQOL score worsened 7.8/year compared with observation, p = 0.5). Anxiety was the only subdomain that significantly worsened over time in the microsurgery group (microsurgery PANQOL score worsened 3.8/year compared with observation; p = 0.009).

Despite differences in PANQOL scores at baseline, changes in total PANQOL score over time were not found to be statistically significant, regardless of the treatment group chosen. Overall, these results hold implications for patient counseling when considering treatment choice and quality of life predictions.