Quality of life (QoL) measures are increasingly used as outcome measures in the assessment of different treatment options in clinical practice and as endpoints in clinical trials. Methods and questionnaires currently used for QoL assessment in vestibular schwannoma (VS) patients, studies evaluating QoL before and after treatment, studies on patients managed conservatively and studies evaluating facial-nerve-function-related QoL in VS patients are reviewed. Current methodological controversial issues in QoL studies on VS patients include the lack of a planned prospective comparison between QoL values before and after treatment, a need for the inclusion of additional questions along with standard questionnaires and the need to report on both the statistical and the clinical significance of QoL data. QoL assessments merit being included in more trials along with standardized interpretation and complete reporting of results.
Copyright 2010 S. Karger AG, Basel.