• Christian Franz Freyschlag, Johannes Kerschbaumer, Daniel Pinggera, Gabriele Bacher, Erich Mur, and Claudius Thomé.
• Department of Neurosurgery, Medical University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria. Electronic address: christian.freyschlag@i-med.ac.at.
• World Neurosurg. 2017 Jul 1; 103: 493-500.

BackgroundPreservation of neurologic function is mandatory when offering a surgical intervention to patients with low-grade gliomas (LGGs), given that the goal of any treatment is the patient's return to their normal everyday life.ObjectiveTo determine whether a structured evaluation by an occupational therapist can reveal deficits that might be overseen in routine clinical examination of patients with a surgically treated LGG.MethodsA total of 20 patients with radiographically suspected LGG were examined in a standardized fashion at 3 stages: preoperatively, postoperatively, and 3 months thereafter. Results were analyzed descriptively.ResultsA total of 19 patients (95%) showed no postoperative motor deficit; one suffered from akinesia due to supplementary motor area involvement and demonstrated a transient deficit with manifestation on the first postoperative day. Patients with eloquent LGGs, involving speech (n = 6, 30%), exhibited different transient speech disturbances according to the location of the lesion. Structured testing revealed a postoperative worsening of movement mirroring (upper extremity) and finger discrimination (sensory) in 5 of 20 patients (25%). Force meter evaluation of the upper extremity was decreased significantly postoperatively for the affected hemisphere, even though motor deficits were absent in most patients. The action research arm test detected deterioration in more than one half of the patients postoperatively. Patients recovered from these deficits within the first 3 months.ConclusionsRoutine clinical examination and neuropsychological evaluation fail to detect mild deficits in sensory function, reactivity, and apraxia, which may have a serious impact on patients' ability to return to their normal lives and work.Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

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