Quality of Life in Patients With Benign Lateral Skull Base Neoplasms Following Infratemporal Fossa Approaches

Abstract

Objectives: Infratemporal fossa approaches (IFAs) allow the total resection of certain lateral skull base neoplasms. To date, no studies have explored the change of patient-reported quality of life (QoL) after total resection of benign lateral skull base neoplasms through IFA. The present study aimed to give a comprehensive understanding of QoL among patients after IFA through general and disease-specific QoL questionnaires. Methods: Forty-seven patients with benign lateral skull base neoplasms were enrolled. The Short Form 36 (SF-36), World Health Organization Quality of Life–BREF (WHOQOL-BREF), and the University of Washington Head and Neck Quality of Life (UW-QOL) were chosen as tools to assess QoL before and after surgeries through IFA. Results: Patients had significantly lower scores in appearance, chewing, and speech after surgeries through IFA. However, change in health from SF-36 and physical health from WHOQOL-BREF scored higher after surgery. In multivariate linear regression analysis, age, gender, mood, speech, appearance, swallowing, and chewing contributed independently to general QoL. Conclusion: Patients were shown to benefit with regard to overall QoL after gross tumor resection from IFA, despite the impact of appearance, speech, and chewing. Function preservation and restoration are critical since their correlation with postoperative QoL.