Prevalence of seizures in brain tumor: A meta-analysis

• Main Authors: Audrey, Christine, Lim, Kheng Seang, Ahmad Zaki, Rafdzah, Fong, Si Lei, Chan, Chet-Ying, Kumar, Thinisha Sathis, Narayanan, Vairavan, Tan, Chong -Tin
• Format: Article
• Published: Elsevier 2022
• Subjects: RC0254 Neoplasms. Tumors. Oncology (including Cancer)
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/40380/
• Institution: Universiti Malaya

Objectives: Prevalence of seizures in brain tumors vary substantially between studies even with similar histo-pathological types. We aimed to identify the seizure prevalence of the commonest types of brain tumors.Methods: Systematic computerized search of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science were performed. The meta -analysis of pooled prevalence and 95 % confidence interval (CI) for tumor-related seizures were calculated by using a random effect model. Based on the 2014 epilepsy definition, a mean seizure prevalence of 60 % is used to indicate high seizure prevalence in this study.Results: 74 studies that reported seizure prevalence with 23,116 patients were included in this meta-analysis. These tumors has higher seizure incidence rate (at least 60 %) with pooled prevalence of 63 % for adult with low-grade astrocytoma (95 % CI: 57-68 %), 65 % for oligodendroglioma (95% CI: 57-72 %), 72 % for oli-goastrocytoma (95 % CI: 67-77 %), 81 % for ganglioglioma (95 % CI: 66-97 %) and 94 % for DNET (94 % CI: 83-100 %).Conclusion: This study highlights the type of brain tumors that carry a high seizure prevalence. Screening for subtle seizures and early management of seizures may be beneficial in patients with low-grade astrocytoma (adult), oligodendroglioma, oligoastrocytoma, ganglioglioma or DNET brain tumor.