Sensory hypo- and hypersensitivity in patients with brain tumors

ABSTRACT

Objectives

Hyper- and hyposensitivity in multiple modalities have been well-documented in subjects with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) but not in subjects with acquired brain injury (ABI). The purpose of this study was to determine whether subjects with ABI experience altered sensory processing in multiple sensory modalities, and to examine the relationships between impaired sensory processing and the emotional state.

Methods and procedures

Sixty-eight patients with brain or spinal cord tumors participated in the study. Cognitive ability and emotional function were tested, and subjective changes were evaluated in two directions (hyper- and hyposensitivity) and five modalities (visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory) at two time points (after disease onset and after surgery).

Results

One-fifth of the participants complained of hypersensitivity in the visual domain, and a similar proportion complained of hyposensitivity in the auditory and tactile domains. Additionally, one-third of participants complained of two or more sensory abnormalities after disease onset. A hierarchical regression analysis indicated that auditory and tactile sensory changes predicted a depressive state.

Conclusion

In conclusion, multimodal sensory changes occurred in patients with brain tumors, manifesting as hyper- or hyposensitivity. Sensory changes might be related to depressive state, but the results were inconclusive.

KEYWORDS:

• Hypersensitivity
• hyposensitivity
• acquired brain injury
• depression

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, A.M. The data are not publicly available due to ethical restrictions.

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed online at https://doi.org/10.1080/02699052.2022.2110943

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number JP18H03663; JSPS Topic-Setting Program to Advance Cutting-Edge Humanities and Social Sciences Research Area Cultivation and Chuo University Grant for Special Research.