GOLDEN study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Geriatric assessment for OLDEr patients with glioblastoma within Neuro-oncology clinics
IRAS ID
212524
Contact name
Cressida Lorimer
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Brighton and Sussex NHS Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 0 days
Research summary
Glioblastoma (GBM) is the commonest primary malignant brain tumour among the adult population with approximately 2,000 new cases diagnosed in the UK per year. Outcomes from this disease remain poor with median life expectancy in the range of 12-18 months, dropping to 3-6 months in the older population.
Given the poor prognosis in the older population, treatment must be balanced against side effects and worsening quality of life. In patients aged 65 or over there is a lack of consensus on standard of care. There is evidence to support the use of concomitant chemoradiotherapy or chemotherapy or radiotherapy as single agents, however there remains a paucity of data surrounding the clinical basis by which individual patients are assessed for treatment.
Assessment of older patients with GBM is challenging due to the mix of tumour-related symptoms and pre-existing comorbidities, and it can be difficult to predict which patients will benefit from active treatment. In other tumour sites within oncology, there has been growing interest in the use of multidimensional geriatric assessments (GA). A GA involves a holistic approach to the patient, examining a number of different medical, pharmacological, dietary, social and physical needs. Multi-dimensional geriatric assessment has been shown to predict for tolerance to treatment and survival in other tumour types however there is a paucity of data assessing the benefit of geriatric assessment in neuro oncology patients.
This trial aims to assess the feasibility of embedding such an assessment within the neuro oncology outpatient setting. If this proves to be successful then the results shall be used to guide the embedding of the assessment within a larger randomised controlled trial in order to examine for relationships between deficits in domains highlighted in the geriatric assessment and treatment toxicity and overall survival.
REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/WM/0408
Date of REC Opinion
25 Sep 2016
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion