High-level language outcomes three and twelve months after awake surgery in low grade glioma and cavernoma patients

Language impairments and resting-state EEG in brain tumour patients: Revealing connections

“…Apart from auditory comprehension, all other language domains indicate unchanged performance after surgery. This is in line with previous studies, which report no change on the majority of language tests in the longer term (3-12 months) after surgery Norrelgen et al, 2020;Satoer et al, 2016Satoer et al, , 2014. However, postoperative decline has been reported for word retrieval (object naming; Satoer et al, 2016), phonological abilities (letter fluency; Satoer et al, 2016), and semantic abilities (category fluency; Norrelgen et al, 2020;Satoer et al, 2016Satoer et al, , 2014.…”

“…Three months after surgery, category fluency performance worsened compared to the preoperative level . Furthermore, Norrelgen et al (2020) found no change in overall language performance 3 months and 1 year after awake surgery in left language areas, however, category fluency declined in the longterm after surgery. At the individual level, 13% (3 months) and 9% (1 year) of the patients had declined language functioning after surgery.…”

“…In spite of that, language outcome after brain tumour surgery in language-related areas is variable, ranging from intact language functioning to severely impaired language functioning (e.g. Norrelgen, Jensdottir, & Östberg, 2020). An accurate preoperative risk estimation of postoperative language impairments could contribute to clinical care, such as patient counselling, planning of treatment, and language rehabilitation.…”

“…Language outcome after brain tumour surgery varies greatly between patients, ranging from intact language functioning to severe permanent language impairments (e.g. Norrelgen et al, 2020). Postoperative language outcome has an effect on the extent to which patients can resume domestic, social, and professional activities in the long term after surgery.…”

“…Recently, two Swedish research groups investigated language functioning extensively in presumed low-grade glioma patients, by using test batteries that were designed to detect subtle language impairments Norrelgen et al, 2020). Before surgery, found impaired group-level performance for object naming and category fluency in patients with tumour locations in left language areas, left non-language areas, and right non-language areas.…”