Developed in collaboration with health communications agency Costello Medical, this report sets out a roadmap of actionable and impactful recommendations that aim to improve rehabilitation for adults with brain tumours. Key recommendations were to: build the evidence base that quantifies patient need for rehabilitation by providing funding/infrastructure for allied health professional-led research; develop clinical consensus recommendations on rehabilitation to inform guidelines for adults with brain tumours; and raise awareness of the benefits of rehabilitation for adults with brain tumours among all stakeholder groups.
Cochrane Special Collection | 17 March 2021| Brain tumour diagnosis and management
This Special Collection provides up-to-date evidence in these key clinical priority areas of brain tumour research. It includes Cochrane Reviews that address several areas identified by the Neuro-Oncology James Lind Alliance Priority Setting Partnership in the UK as important to the brain tumour community. In addition to reviews included in this Special Collection, Cochrane Gynaecological, Neuro-oncology and Orphan Cancers has published a protocol on ‘Diagnostic test accuracy and cost-effectiveness of tests for codeletion of chromosomal arms 1p and 19q in people with glioma’.[1] The reviews in this Collection provide evidence towards clinical priority areas for research, and their funding, and therefore, are important for consumers, clinicians, healthcare providers and funders.
NICE | March 2020 | Brain tumours (primary) and brain metastases in adults | In development [GID-QS10092]
NICE has released a consultation for the 5 key areas for quality improvement which you consider as having the greatest potential to improve the quality of care in this area.
Closing date for comments: Monday 20 April 2020 at 5pm
Department of Health and Social Care | May 2019 | Innovative brain cancer treatment aid now available across England
An innovative brain cancer treatment could be used to help up to 2000 people a year. Cancer treatment aid 5-ALA (known as the pink drink) is now available across the country and will transform treatment for patients.
5-ALA uses fluorescent dye and ultraviolet light to make cancerous cells glow under UV light. This allows surgeons to more accurately identify the affected areas of the brain.
The treatment aid will help to tackle some of the hardest to treat cases and make sure healthy cells are left untouched.
Department of Health and Social Care | 2018| Report of the Task and Finish
Working Group on Brain Tumour Research
The conclusions of the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) task and finish working group on brain tumour research have been published. The working group comprised clinicians, charities, a patient carer and officials to discuss how to increase the level and impact of research into brain tumours, removing barriers to research and how to generate high-quality research. It is the first time that research funders have joined together to look at how this area can be developed (DHSC).
Following such a prolonged period of under-funding, the Working Group identified the of fundable research applications currently being received as a principal issue,
which occurs for many reasons and needs to be tackled systematically. Therefore, they focused on identifying opportunities for removing barriers and generating additional high quality research applications. (DHSC)
Amsbaugh, M.J. et al. Cancer | Published online: 27 April 2017
Background: The objectives of this study were to characterize patterns of care and to identify predictors for adjuvant therapy in elderly patients with glioblastoma in the modern era.
Conclusions: In this analysis of elderly patients who had glioblastoma diagnosed from 2004 through 2012, a significant increase in the receipt of combined-modality therapy was observed. Combined-modality treatment produces improved survival outcomes and should be considered as adjuvant treatment for carefully selected elderly patients.
Image shows false-coloured scanning electron micrograph of human cancer stem cells isolated from patients with brain cancer
Background: Advanced age has been shown to be a factor predicting poor survival in patients with brain metastases (BM). There have been only a few studies focusing on stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) for elderly BM patients. The present study aimed to investigate the efficacy and limitations of SRS for very elderly BM patients.
Conclusions: The present study suggested an upfront SRS strategy to offer a feasible and effective treatment option for very elderly patients with limited BM. In the majority of patients, neurological death could be delayed or even prevented.
Ogawa, T. et al. International Journal of Cancer. Published online: 25 August 2016
Few prospective studies have investigated the etiology of brain tumor, especially among Asian populations. Both coffee and green tea are popular beverages, but their relation with brain tumor risk, particularly with glioma, has been inconsistent in epidemiological studies. In this study, we evaluated the association between coffee and greed tea intake and brain tumor risk in a Japanese population.
We evaluated a cohort of 106,324 subjects (50,438 men and 55,886 women) in the Japan Public Health Center-based Prospective Study (JPHC Study). Subjects were followed from 1990 for Cohort I and 1993 for Cohort II until December 31, 2012. 157 (70 men and 87 women) newly diagnosed cases of brain tumor were identified during the study period. Hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (95%CIs) for the association between coffee or green tea consumption and brain tumor risk were assessed using a Cox proportional hazards regression model.
We found a significant inverse association between coffee consumption and brain tumor risk in both total subjects (≥3 cups/day; HR=0.47, 95%CI=0.22-0.98) and in women (≥3 cups/day; HR=0.24, 95%CI=0.06-0.99), although the number of cases in the highest category was small. Furthermore, glioma risk tended to decrease with higher coffee consumption (≥3 cups/day; HR=0.54, 95%CI=0.16-1.80). No association was seen between green tea and brain tumor risk.
In conclusion, our study suggested that coffee consumption might reduce the risk of brain tumor, including that of glioma, in the Japanese population.
Image shows magnetic resonance imaging scan showing cystic cerebellar astrocytoma.
Patients with a low-grade type of brain tumor called glioma who received radiation therapy plus a chemotherapy regimen, including procarbazine, lomustine and vincristine (PCV), experienced a longer progression-free survival and overall survival than patients who received radiation therapy alone, according to the results of the clinical trial.
Between October 1998 and June 2002, 251 patients with low-grade glioma were enrolled in the RTOG 9802 trial. Patients enrolled were at high risk, compared to other patients with low-grade glioma, because they were 40 or older, or had a less-than-complete surgical removal of their tumor.
Patients were randomized to 1 of 2 trial arms, radiation therapy plus six cycles of PCV chemotherapy or radiation therapy alone. Before treatment, researchers conducted a pathology review on tumor samples and prepared for samples for correlative laboratory studies to assess mutational status and identify prognostic variables.
At a median follow-up time of 11.9 years, 67 percent of enrolled patients were identified as having tumor progression, and 55 percent of patients had died. Patients in the radiation therapy plus PCV chemotherapy arm had longer median survival times, compared with those in the trial arm who received radiation therapy alone (13.3 versus 7.8 years, respectively; p=0.003). Median progression- free survival time for patients receiving radiation therapy plus PCV chemotherapy versus radiation therapy alone was 10.4 years and 4.0 years, respectively. Ten-year, progression-free survival and overall survival rates for patients in the radiation therapy plus PCV chemotherapy arm versus those in the radiation therapy alone arm were 51 percent versus 21 percent and 60 percent versus 40 percent, respectively.
Cancer Services News 