Impact of Early Palliative Care on Newly Diagnosed Brain Tumour Patients

Brain tumour, either primary or secondary, has produced various widespread or localised symptoms in the patient. They may have a detrimental impact on the quality of a patient's life regardless of subsequent treatment. Palliative care is most effective when it is started early in the disease trajectory. Hence, we conducted this study to assess symptom burden and quality of life (QoL) in brain tumour patients and impact of early palliative care on them.

Prospective analytical study conducted in patients of primary or secondary brain tumour within 4 weeks of their diagnosis. After taking informed consent, all patients were assessed from time of enrolment up to 6 months. Integrated palliative care outcome scale (IPOS) tool was used for symptom burden assessment, and European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer Quality of Life Questionnaire-Brain Neoplasm 20 (EORTC-QLQ-BN-20) tool was used to measure QoL. To know the impact of palliative care, baseline data of these scores were compared with 1^st month, 3^rd month and 6^th month follow-up data.

Total 100 patients enrolled. In IPOS score, statistically significant improvement was noted at subsequent follow-up among physical, emotional and communication scores along with total score. For QoL, significant improvement was noted at subsequent month follow-up in headache, seizures, future uncertainty, bothering due to hair loss and itchy skin among EORTC-QLQ-BN-20.

We conclude that brain tumour patients are suffering from various distressing symptoms. Early involvement of palliative care specialists with neuro-oncology treatment can help in better management of various physical and psycho-social symptoms, which lead to better QoL of patients and their caregivers.