[Changes in QOL in patients with brain tumors measured by mood changes during and after treatment]

Patients with brain tumors are exposed to severe stress which may have an influence on their quality of life (QOL). To measure QOL in those patients, we measure their mood state during and after the treatments.

16 patients who were admitted to our department for treatment of brain tumors, were included in the study. The tumors included 5 gliomas, 6 meningiomas and others. They were 7 males and 9 females, and age distributed from 19 to 74 years old. All patients presented more than 90% of the Karnofsky performance score (KPS) on discharge, so they were expected to return to their previous social life.

The self-answering tests were performed on admission (Pre), on discharge (Post 1), and at more than 5 months after the discharge (Post 2). The tests included an original questionnaire asking consent to admission and treatment, and concerning the feeling of disability to cope with conditions of living, Cornell Medical Index (CMI) which measured the neurosis, and Profile of mood state (POMS) which measured the 6 subscales of patients mood states including tension-anxiety (TA), depression (D), anger-hostility (AH), vigor (V), fatigue (F), and confusion (C).

The questionnaire showed that the patients feel satisfied with having consented to the treatment. The feeling of disability to cope with living became stronger in Post 2 than in Pre. CMI showed a borderline of neurosis in three patients on admission, and in four patients in Post 2. Only the TA of POMS subscale improved significantly in Post 2. However, other subscales were unchanged. It is characteristic that all of the subscales of POMS showed less disturbance on discharge compared with that on admission, but, they returned to the Prelevel after they returned to social life.

Patients with brain tumors have satisfactory consent to the treatment, however, they feel disability to cope with social life. On discharge, they showed a better mood state compared to that on admission, but the mood state turned for the worse again during the follow-up period. It is evident that patients with brain tumors are exposed to severe stress even after the completion of the treatment. The results necessitate our taking patients' mental health into consideration for our treatment protocol.