Braina CaVa
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Braina CaVa: Care, variation, outcomes & costs in patients with brain tumours in England
IRAS ID
251154
Contact name
Matthew Williams
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Imperial College London
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 11 months, 31 days
Research summary
Brain tumours are the leading cause of cancer death in the under 40’s, have the highest average number of years of life lost and are now one of CRUK’s priority tumours. This project will provide a comprehensive view of patterns of care (surgery, chemotherapy & radiotherapy), patient events (hospital admissions, death), outcomes (overall survival and novel outcomes) and costs of care (in-patient, outpatient; direct and indirect care costs) in adult patients with primary or secondary brain tumours in England. We will use that data to assess variations in care, systematic drivers of variation in care, and associations between variations in care and outcomes and costs. The data will be collected through national databases (chemotherapy: SACT; radiotherapy: RTDS; hospital admissions: HES; diagnostic images: DID; mortality: ONS).
There is substantial technical novelty, as we are exploring the use of centre-dyads as part of the analytical approach, and linking biological data. The results will be used to influence policy, plan clinical trials, and link to biological resources.
Based on our previous work, we will directly identify areas for improved care (within current structures, funding and technology) that can reduce the number of deaths from brain tumours now. We will provide clear information to plan the next generation of brain tumour trials, to save lives over the next 5 – 10 years. Ultimately, this work provides a route to a national care and outcomes dataset for patients with malignant gliomas, to drive a new generation of biological research.REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Sheffield Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/YH/0213
Date of REC Opinion
27 Jun 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion