ArticleSleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung2022
Prospective pilot study to explore the melatonin level in brain tumor patients undergoing radiotherapy.
Article in Sleep & breathing = Schlaf & Atmung, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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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.
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.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 5 citations in OpenAlex.
- Prevalence and management of sleep disturbance in adults with primary brain tumours and their caregivers: a systematic review.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2023Pooled it
- The Pinealoprive Syndrome: Myth or Reality?Advances and technical standards in neurosurgery · 2026Review
- Sleep disturbances in brain tumors: a narrative review.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Review
- Salivary Melatonin Changes in Oncological Patients: A Systematic Review.Metabolites · 2022Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
9 authors at 4 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
purposeOur aim was to assess if the radiotherapy dose decreased the melatonin levels as well as the quality of life and sleep in brain tumor patients.
methodsWe performed a follow-up study on melatonin levels in saliva and its urinary metabolite sulfatoxi-melatonine (STM) samples in patients with brain tumors treated with radiotherapy close to the pineal gland's area. We analyzed the cortisol, cortisone, and excrection of STM normalized by urinary creatinine. In some cases, a polysomnography (PSG) was performed. Quality of life questionnaires, distress scale, and sleepiness inventories were also administered.
resultsWe included twelve patients (experimental arm) and eight healthy controls (control group). No differences were observed between experimental arm and control group at baseline. No differences were detected in the experimental arm before and after delivering the radiotherapy. No clinically significant differences were found according to the radiotherapy dose delivered.
conclusionMelatonin levels and PSG outcomes do not change after receiving radiotherapy. The findings of this study do not show a statistically significant association between the treatment and the quality of life and sleep.
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Registered trials
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