Mapping Glioma: Depression, Resection Probability and Return to Work

Gliomas are the most common malignant primary brain tumors and remain incurable. Patients typically present with a variety of neurological, cognitive and psychological symptoms, which are assessed as health-related quality of life (HRQoL). One HRQoL related symptom is depression. Depressive symptoms are particularly common in patients with glioma, occurring even more frequently than in patients with other cancer types. Treatment of glioma usually starts with surgery, during which a surgeon has to make many decisions based largely on the tumor’s location in the brain as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). However, no guidelines exist for these decisions and the probability of the entire tumor being resected is not easily assessed before surgery. Furthermore, surgery can sometimes initiate or change symptoms. The ability to resume activities of daily living, such as returning to work, may be at risk both from the disease and the surgery. Assessing, preserving or even improving HRQoL is paramount to enhance patient well-being during their remaining time. In this thesis we aggregated symptom and MRI data to map the relationship between characteristics and patient outcomes for patients with glioma. These characteristics included tumor and surgery location and the outcomes focused on depressive symptoms, resection probability, and return to work.