The brain can be affected by a number of different types of
tumour and this leads to serious complications such as epileptic
attacks, brain edema, haemorrhage, or thrombosis. Hitherto, there
have been no uniform standards available for the diagnosis and
treatment of these common symptoms. An international team of
researchers comprising experts from the leading oncology
societies ESMO (European Society for Medical Oncology) and EANO
(European Association of Neuro-Oncology) has now compiled
international guidelines and standards for the treatment of these
complications, and these have been published in the top journal
"Annals of Oncology" (Impact Factor: 18.2). As EANO President,
Matthias Preusser, Head of the Division of Oncology (MedUni
Vienna's Department of Medicine I) initiated these international
guidelines and has played a leading role in coordinating them in
his capacity as last author.
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"Every
year, around 18 million people worldwide are
diagnosed with cancer and up to every second
patient with an advanced tumour develops brain
metastases, especially in cases of lung, breast
or skin cancer. Due to the breadth of this field,
the new guidelines are of huge significance,"
explains Preusser. "Two of the largest societies
have therefore joined forces to produce uniform
standards."
With
the aid of algorithms and numerous diagrams, a
reference work has been produced to ensure that
patients throughout the world receive
high-quality treatment for the complications
associated with brain tumours. Questions such as
"how does one manage brain edema?" or "what
should I do in the event of an epileptic attack
or neurocognitive impairment?" are addressed in
detail by the interdisciplinary panel of
authors.
"The
new guidelines that we have compiled can be
applied and implemented all over the world and
should therefore lead to a significant increase
in patient safety," stresses Preusser, who has
simultaneously co-authored guidelines for the
correct treatment of glioma (a specific type of
central nervous system brain tumour), which have
recently been published in the leading journal
"Nature Reviews Clinical Oncology" (Impact
Factor: 53.2, https://doi.org/10.1038/s41571-020-00447-z).
Cancer
facts
Every
year, cancer is responsible for around 25% of all
deaths in Austria. Around 40,000 new cases are
diagnosed each year. The commonest cancers in
women are breast cancer (29%), lung and bowel
cancer (10% each). For men it is prostate cancer
(23%), followed by lung cancer (14%) and then
bowel cancer (12%). There has been a significant
increase in relative 5-year survival over the
last few decades and it now stands at around
60%.
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