SIND Study
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Assessing impact of surgically-induced deficits on patient functioning and quality of life (SIND study)
IRAS ID
256542
Contact name
Stephen J Price
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and University of Cambridge
Duration of Study in the UK
4 years, 7 months, 31 days
Research summary
Malignant brain tumours are common cause of cancer death in the young. As we rarely cure these tumours our aim is to maintain the quality of life. As no new treatments are on the immediate horizon we need to improve our current treatments.
Surgery is a key treatment for brain tumours. Removing the entire tumour visible on MRI scans improves survival and maintains good quality of life. But virtually all patients will progress at the edge of the area. This is because these tumours spread into the surrounding normal brain. There is a careful balance between what we remove and the risk of damaging normal brain.
Unlike other parts of the body, we can’t remove normal brain outside of the tumour. Damaging normal brain can impact on the patient’s function and quality of life. Damaging motor or speech areas cause serious problems for patients and affects their quality of life. We don’t know the effect on quality of life from damage to other brain functions – for example areas involved in vision and thinking. If we could show that damage to specific regions of the brain cause such problems with a person’s ability to get about and look after themselves, we could avoid injuring these areas.
In this study we plan to understand the impact surgery has on visual and cognitive functioning, and how this affects quality of life. Consenting patients will have MRI scans of the brain (that look at these pathways and brain function) done before and after surgery. This will provide information on the location of any surgical damage. They will also have a series of tests of vision and mental function as well as questionnaires that test quality of life. We will then compare the site of brain injury (from the scans) with the effect on patients.REC name
West Midlands - Solihull Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/WM/0152
Date of REC Opinion
16 May 2019
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion