TY - JOUR
PY - 2020//
TI - Suicidality in patients with brain tumors: a brief literature review with clinical exemplar
JO - Medicina (Lithuania)
A1 - Costanza, Alessandra
A1 - Zenga, Francesco
A1 - Rudà , Roberta
A1 - Amerio, Andrea
A1 - Aguglia, Andrea
A1 - Serafini, Gianluca
A1 - Amore, Mario
A1 - Bondolfi, Guido
A1 - Berardelli, Isabella
A1 - Nguyen, Khoa Dinh
SP - e725
EP - e725
VL - 56
IS - 12
N2 - BACKGROUND: Suicidality and brain tumors are two life-threatening conditions and, somewhat unexpectedly, the associations between them have scarcely been reported.
OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to provide a brief literature review of epidemiological studies on suicidal ideation (SI) and suicidal behavior (SB) in patients with brain tumors. To illustrate various aspects of brain tumors that potentially underlie the emergence of suicidality, the review is supplemented with a clinical exemplar of a long-term survivor of brain tumor (glioblastoma) who experienced persistent SI. Furthermore, we discuss putative both neurobiological (including anatomical and immunological) and psychosocial mechanisms that might be accountable for the development of SI and SB in patients with brain tumors.
CONCLUSIONS: While the etiology of this phenomenon appears to be multifactorial and still remains a subject of much debate, it is of critical importance to identify patients for which a psychiatric evaluation could recognize, in a timely manner, a possible suicide risk and alleviate the deep related suffering, by appropriate psychopharmacological and supportive and psychotherapeutic interventions.
Language: en
LA - en SN - 1010-660X UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/medicina56120725 ID - ref1 ER -