Evidence map›Paper›PMID 31386040›Full record

ArticleNeuro-oncology practice2019

A valid alternative for in-person language assessments in brain tumor patients: feasibility and validity measures of the new TeleLanguage test.

Elke De Witte, Vitória Piai, Garret Kurteff, Ruofan Cai, Peter Mariën, Nina Dronkers, Edward Chang, Mitchel Berger

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In one paragraph

Article in Neuro-oncology practice, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed, 2 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Tele-neuropsychological assessment tools in Italy: a systematic review on psychometric properties and usability.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2022
    Pooled it
  3. The Telephone Language Screener (TLS): standardization of a novel telephone-based screening test for language impairment.Neurological sciences : official journal of the Italian Neurological Society and of the Italian Society of Clinical Neurophysiology · 2024
    Article
  4. Article
  5. Article
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

8 authors.

Elke De WitteUniversity of California San Francisco Medical Center, Department of Neurological Surgery, San Francisco, California, USA.
Vitória PiaiRadboud University Medical Center, Department of Medical Psychology, Nijmegen, the Netherlands.
Garret KurteffUniversity of California San Francisco Medical Center, Department of Neurological Surgery, San Francisco, California, USA.
Ruofan CaiUniversity of California San Francisco Medical Center, Department of Neurological Surgery, San Francisco, California, USA.
Peter MariënVrije Universiteit Brussel, Department of Clinical and Experimental Neurolinguistics, Center of Linguistics and Literary Studies, Brussels, Belgium.
Nina DronkersVA Northern California Health Care System, Center for Aphasia and Related Disorders, Martinez, California, USA.
Edward ChangUniversity of California San Francisco Medical Center, Department of Neurological Surgery, San Francisco, California, USA.
Mitchel BergerUniversity of California San Francisco Medical Center, Department of Neurological Surgery, San Francisco, California, USA.

Funding

Neural Mechanisms of Language Production Decline in Primary Progressive AphasiaR01DC016345 · NIDCD · UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA BERKELEY · PI DRONKERS, NINA F. · 2017 to 2022
$2.8M
NIDCD NIH HHS R01 DC016345
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundAlthough language deficits after awake brain surgery are usually milder than post-stroke, postoperative language assessments are needed to identify these. Follow-up of brain tumor patients in certain geographical regions can be difficult when most patients are not local and come from afar. We developed a short telephone-based test for pre- and postoperative language assessments.

methodsThe development of the TeleLanguage Test was based on the Dutch Linguistic Intraoperative Protocol and existing standardized English batteries. Two parallel versions were composed and tested in healthy native English speakers. Subsequently, the TeleLanguage Test was administered in a group of 14 tumor patients before surgery and at 1 week, 1 month, and 3 months after surgery. The test includes auditory comprehension, repetition, semantic selection, sentence or story completion, verbal naming, and fluency tests. It takes less than 20 minutes to administer.

resultsHealthy participants had no difficulty performing any of the language tests via the phone, attesting to the feasibility of a phone assessment. In the patient group, all TeleLanguage test scores significantly declined shortly after surgery with a recovery to preoperative levels at 3 months postsurgery for naming and fluency tasks and a recovery to normal levels for the other language tasks. Analysis of the in-person language assessments (until 1 month) revealed a similar profile.

conclusionThe use of the TeleLanguage battery to conduct language assessments from afar can provide convenience, might optimize patient care, and enables longitudinal clinical research. The TeleLanguage is a valid tool for various clinical and scientific purposes.

Indexed as

aphasiaawake brain surgerylanguage testtelephone assessmenttumor surgery

Identifiers

PMID31386040
PMCPMC6656337

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.