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Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, San Francisco, CA (R.L., M.P., K.S., S.M.C.); and Cullather Brain Tumor Quality of Life Center, Bon Secours Richmond Health System/St. Mary's Hospital, Richmond, VA (S.F.); USA
Address correspondence to Susan M. Chang, Department of Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, 400 Parnassus Ave., A-808, San Francisco, CA 94143-0350, USA (changs{at}neurosurg.ucsf.edu).
Quality of life is an important area of clinical neurooncology that is increasingly relevant as survivorship increases and as patients experience potential morbidities associated with new therapies. This review of quality-of-life studies in the brain tumor population aims to summarize what is currently known about quality of life in patients with both low-grade and high-grade tumors and suggest how we may use this knowledge to direct future research. To date, reports on quality of life have been primarily qualitative and focused on specific symptoms such as fatigue, sleep disorders, and cognitive dysfunction, as well as some symptom clusters. However, the increasing interest in exploring quality of life as a primary end point for cancer therapy has established a need for prospective, controlled studies to assess baseline and serial quality-of-life parameters in brain tumor patients in order to plan and evaluate appropriate and timely interventions for their symptoms.
Key Words: brain tumor • clinical trial end points • quality of life • survivorship • symptom management
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