Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Hypothalamic damage in craniopharyngiomas (CP) is associated with poor functional outcome. Data on quality of life (QoL) in CP on complete hormone replacement, including GH, is missing. The aim of this study was to assess QoL and neurocognitive function in childhood onset (CO) CP on complete hormone substitution.

Methods and design: Forty-two (20 women) patients, aged ≥17 years were recruited from the South Medical Region of Sweden (population 2.5 million). The patients were surgically treated for a CO CP, between 1958 and 2000. Most (86%) patients were receiving GH therapy, panhypopituitarism was present in 32 patients and 48% had received cranial radiotherapy. Three self-rating questionnaires were applied: the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90), the Interview Schedule for Social Interaction (ISSI) and the social network concept. All subjects were examined with a battery of neurocognitive tests with high sensitivity for subtle brain dysfunction.

Results: No statistically significant group differences were observed across any of the nine SCL-90 subscales. The CP patients had lower performance in neurocognitive tests, reaching statistical significance in 11 of the 20 test variables, including executive function and memory. The patient group had a lower summary measure of performance (P=0.004) with this difference becoming insignificant when extracting patient with tumour growth towards third ventricle (TGTV; P=0.18). While patients with TGTV, compared to controls had significantly lower mean total score (P=0.006). A significant negative correlation was recorded between mean z score of neurocognitive performance and years since operation (r=−0.331, P=0.049).

Conclusions: A normal QoL was shown on this first study of GH substituted adult survivors of CO CP, which mirrors an adaptation to their present situation. Lower scores of neurocognitive performance were recorded and patients with TGTV had the lowest score. Therapeutic and rehabilitative efforts are highly warranted in the follow up of CP patients.

Declaration of interest: The authors declare that there is no conflict of interest that could be perceived as prejudicing the impartiality of the research project.

Funding: This work was supported, however funding details unavailable.