BACKGROUND: Neurological and oncological outcomes of motor eloquent brain-tumor patients depend upon the ability to localize functional areas and the respective proposed therapy. We set out to determine whether the use of navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) had an impact on treatment and outcome in patients with brain tumors in motor eloquent locations. METHODS: We enrolled 250 consecutive patients and compared their functional and oncological outcomes to a matched pre-nTMS control group (n = 115). RESULTS: nTMS mapping results disproved suspected involvement of primary motor cortex in 25.1% of cases, expanded surgical indication in 14.8%, and led to planning of more extensive resection in 35.2% of cases and more restrictive resection in 3.5%. In comparison with the control group, the rate of gross total resections increased significantly from 42% to 59% (P < .05). Progression-free-survival for low grade glioma was significantly better in the nTMS group at 22.4 months than in control group at 15.4 months (P < .05). Integration of nTMS led to a nonsignificant change of postoperative deficits from 8.5% in the control group to 6.1% in the nTMS group. CONCLUSIONS: nTMS provides crucial data for preoperative planning and surgical resection of tumors involving essential motor areas. Expanding surgical indications and extent of resection based on nTMS enables more patients to undergo surgery and might lead to better neurological outcomes and higher survival rates in brain tumor patients. The impact of this study should go far beyond the neurosurgical community because it could fundamentally improve treatment and outcome, and its results will likely change clinical practice.
BACKGROUND: Neurological and oncological outcomes of motor eloquent brain-tumorpatients depend upon the ability to localize functional areas and the respective proposed therapy. We set out to determine whether the use of navigated transcranial magnetic stimulation (nTMS) had an impact on treatment and outcome in patients with brain tumors in motor eloquent locations. METHODS: We enrolled 250 consecutive patients and compared their functional and oncological outcomes to a matched pre-nTMS control group (n = 115). RESULTS:nTMS mapping results disproved suspected involvement of primary motor cortex in 25.1% of cases, expanded surgical indication in 14.8%, and led to planning of more extensive resection in 35.2% of cases and more restrictive resection in 3.5%. In comparison with the control group, the rate of gross total resections increased significantly from 42% to 59% (P < .05). Progression-free-survival for low grade glioma was significantly better in the nTMS group at 22.4 months than in control group at 15.4 months (P < .05). Integration of nTMS led to a nonsignificant change of postoperative deficits from 8.5% in the control group to 6.1% in the nTMS group. CONCLUSIONS:nTMS provides crucial data for preoperative planning and surgical resection of tumors involving essential motor areas. Expanding surgical indications and extent of resection based on nTMS enables more patients to undergo surgery and might lead to better neurological outcomes and higher survival rates in brain tumorpatients. The impact of this study should go far beyond the neurosurgical community because it could fundamentally improve treatment and outcome, and its results will likely change clinical practice.
Authors: Marie-Thérèse Forster; Elke Hattingen; Christian Senft; Thomas Gasser; Volker Seifert; Andrea Szelényi Journal: Neurosurgery Date: 2011-05 Impact factor: 4.654
Authors: Thomas Picht; Sein Schmidt; Stephan Brandt; Dietmar Frey; Henri Hannula; Tuomas Neuvonen; Jari Karhu; Peter Vajkoczy; Olaf Suess Journal: Neurosurgery Date: 2011-09 Impact factor: 4.654
Authors: Robert C Rennert; David R Santiago-Dieppa; Javier Figueroa; Nader Sanai; Bob S Carter Journal: J Neurooncol Date: 2016-06-22 Impact factor: 4.130