title: Presenting symptoms of glioma in adults.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Studies on the presenting symptoms of glioma in adults in the age of readily available MRI imaging are scarce. This study investigates presenting symptoms of glioma and assesses the correlations of the presenting symptoms with patient age and histopathological class of the tumor.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective review of the medical records of histologically verified glioma patients treated in Turku University Hospital, during 2006-2010, was conducted. The associations between the presenting symptoms and other covariates were assessed individually.
  
  
  RESULTS
  One hundred and fifty patients were ascertained. The most common presenting symptoms of glioma were seizure and cognitive disorder. Patients presenting with seizures were younger than patients with cognitive disorders, and the grade of the tumor was also found to significantly correlate with the most common presenting symptoms. Age group and tumor grade were statistically significant factors of cognitive disorder (P = 0.0037 and P = 0.0069) and age group of seizure (P = 0.0065). The associations between the presenting symptoms and the anatomical location, spread into adjacent brain areas, or laterality of the tumor or site of diagnosis were found to be statistically insignificant. Headache was not a common presenting symptom in glioma patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The main presenting symptoms of glioma in adults in the MRI age still are seizures and cognitive disorder. Patient age and tumor grade correlate positively with the incidence of cognitive disorder and patient age negatively with incidence of seizure as a presenting symptom. Headache is an uncommon manifestation and does not appear as a sole symptom.
authors.affiliation: Division of Clinical Neurosciences, Department of Neurosurgery, Turku University Hospital, Turku, Finland.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Posti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Bori
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kauko
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sankinen
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Nordberg
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rahi
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Frantzén
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vuorinen
authors.forename: J O T
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Sipilä
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D007839:Functional Laterality; D005910:Glioma / Q000150:complications / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology; D006261:Headache / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology
keywords: cognitive disorder; glioblastoma; glioma; onset symptom; presenting symptom; seizures