Disclosures: Matthew Tay, FRCP: No financial relationships or conflicts of interest

Objective: Even though primary brain tumors are relatively rare, they contribute significant morbidity and mortality due to the high rates of neurological impairment. This study aims to examine the physical and functional outcomes of patients with primary brain tumors in an East Asian population.

Design: Retrospective single center study

Setting: Inpatient rehabilitation center

Participants: Inclusion criteria were patients who were admitted for inpatient rehabilitation and were transferred directly from acute hospitals following acute treatment of primary brain tumor. Patients who did not complete inpatient rehabilitation, had missing data or had a metastatic brain lesion were excluded.

Interventions: Patients received standard inpatient neurorehabilitation treatment (3h/day for 5 days/week), with daily physiotherapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy sessions for 1 hour each and psychology interventions as needed. The patient’s progress and rehabilitation goals were discussed weekly in multidisciplinary rehabilitation team meetings.

Main Outcome Measures: Ability to functional independently on discharge, defined as Functional Independence Measure (FIM) >90; good outcome defined as a Glasgow Outcome Scale (GOS) of ≥4.

Results: A total of 163 patients were included. The majority of patients (79.1%) had low grade tumors. A total of 103 patients (63.2%) had a FIM>90 on discharge and 132 patients (81.0%) had a GOS of ≥4 on discharge. Rehabilitation outcomes were sustained, with 125 (76.7%) patients and 113 (69.3%) patients having a GOS of ≥4 at 6 months and 1 year after discharge. A GOS of ≥4 at 1 year was negatively associated with high grade tumors (p < 0.001) and radiotherapy (p=0.028), and positively associated with a higher discharge FIM motor score (p < 0.001) and the presence of a caregiver on discharge (p=0.034).

Conclusions: Our study demonstrates significant positive functional benefits of 4 weeks of inpatient rehabilitation for patients with both benign and malignant primary brain tumors. The the diagnosis of an aggressive primary brain malignancy should not preclude admission to rehabilitation.

Level of Evidence: Level III

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PM&R Meeting Abstracts - https://pmrjabstracts.org/abstract/rehabilitation-outcomes-of-patients-with-primary-brain-tumors/