NCMP-23. PATIENTS WITH BRAIN TUMORS HAVE DECREASED BILATERAL FINGER DEXTERITY COMPARED TO HEALTHY ADULTS

Abstract Unilateral brain tumors are known to affect motor control of the contralateral hemibody, but ipsilesional effects are less frequently studied and may be just as impactful to quality of life. Hand dexterity, for example, is a critical skill that often requires both hands. Here, a cohort of 15 patients with unilateral brain tumors and 47 healthy adults performed individual finger movements with each finger (except the thumb) on each hand while tracked by a data glove (Cyberglove III, CyberGlove Systems, San Jose, CA). The ability to move each finger independently was quantified using a scale previously developed by our lab (individuation score) that represents dexterous ability. Repeated-measures two-way ANOVA with factors of group (brain tumor vs. healthy) and laterality (contralesional vs. ipsilesional) were performed for each finger. The lesional side was set to the left brain for cases in the brain tumor group for simplicity of analysis. There was a significant main effect of “group” for all finger individuation scores (index p-value<0.0001, middle p-value<0.0001, ring p-value<0.001, small p-value<0.01) with healthy volunteers scoring higher than patients. There was no main effect of “laterality.” Group-laterality interaction effects were not significant except for the small finger where healthy adults’ right but not left sided individuation scores were greater than the brain tumor group’s (p-value<0.01). Additionally, using cluster analysis incorporating data from both hands, we were able to differentiate patients with brain tumors from healthy adults with 97.9% specificity, 60% sensitivity, 90% positive predictive value, and 88.5% negative predictive value. Ultimately, these results suggest that unilateral brain tumors decrease hand dexterity bilaterally without a significant lateralizing difference except in the small finger. These results suggest unilateral lesions can have bihemispheric network effects, and/or that hand dexterity may rely on ipsilesional connections more than previously understood.