Introduction: The optimal treatment for recurrent glioblastoma patients remains not well-defined in international guidelines. On top of that, the availability of national guidelines is uncharted.
Research Question: This study aimed to investigate the availability of national guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of adult glioma throughout Europe, specifically focusing on recurrent glioblastoma.
The Brain Tumor Group (BTG) of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) conducts academic clinical trials and translational research to improve clinical management of patients with primary and secondary brain tumors. The EORTC BTG has traditionally played an important role in providing evidence and thus advancing the field, albeit with a main focus on radiotherapy and pharmacotherapy in gliomas. Although examples of well-designed neuro-oncological surgical trials can be found, evidence in surgical neuro-oncology predominantly includes data from uncontrolled prospective series or retrospective cohorts.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Awake craniotomy (AC) is a technique that balances maximum resection and minimal postoperative deficits in patients with intracranial tumors. To aid in the comparability of functional outcomes after awake surgery, this study investigated its international practice and aimed to define categories of postoperative deficits.
Methods: A survey was distributed via neurosurgical networks in Europe (European Association of Neurosurgical Societies, EANS), the Netherlands (Nederlandse Vereniging voor Neurochirurgie, NVVN), Belgium (Belgian Society of Neurosurgery, BSN), and the United States (Congress of Neurological Surgeons, CNS) between April 2022 and April 2023.
Subgroup analyses are essential to generate new hypotheses or to estimate treatment effects in clinically meaningful subgroups of patients. They play an important role in taking the next step towards personalized surgical treatment for brain tumor patients. However, subgroup analyses must be used with consideration and care because they have significant potential risks.
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