The need to consider return to work as a main outcome in patients undergoing surgery for diffuse low-grade glioma: a systematic review

Predictive factors for return to work among cancer survivors in Europe: A systematic review

Of the 4.4 million people diagnosed with cancer in Europe each year, around 36 % are of working age. Return-to-work rates vary across Europe. Work is important for the individual, as well as for society, and this review aims to provide an overview of the predictors for the return to work (RTW) process in European cancer survivors of working age. A systematic literature search was conducted. The present review included quantitative and qualitative study designs published since 2013. In total, the review included 85 papers examining cancer survivors with various cancer diagnoses in 18 European countries. Identified predictive factors for RTW related to the social system, treatment, disease, health behavior, the individuals' psychosocial, work, and sociodemographic situations. There is a need for a standardized definition and operationalization of RTW. Providers can use these results to identify survivors at risk and support cancer survivors in their RTW process.

Challenges and Opportunities in Awake Craniotomy for Brain Tumor Surgery in Low- and Lower-Middle-Income Countries: A Narrative Review and Perspective

BACKGROUND

Low-income countries (LICs) and lower-middle-income countries (LMICs) are presented with unique challenges and opportunities when performing awake craniotomy (AC) for brain tumors. These circumstances arise from factors that are financial, infrastructural, educational, personnel, and sociocultural in nature.

METHODS

We performed a systematic narrative review of series on AC for intra-axial brain tumors in LICs/LMICs using Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines, focusing on the challenges and opportunities in these settings. The PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science databases were searched.

RESULTS

After initially identifying 74 studies, inclusion-exclusion criteria were applied, leaving a total of 14 studies included in the review. These involved 409 patients who underwent AC in LICs/LMICs. These series were from India, Ghana, Nigeria, Iran, Pakistan, Morocco, the Philippines, and Egypt. The most common pathology encountered were gliomas (10-70%). Most studies (11/14, 78.5%) reported on their technique of cortical-subcortical mapping. All reported on motor mapping and 8 of these performed language mapping. The most common outcomes reported were seizure and neurologic deficits, and longest follow-up was at 1 year. Challenges noted were lack of equipment and trained personnel, need for validated tests for the local setting, and sociocultural factors. Opportunities identified were volume for training, technique innovation, and international collaboration.

CONCLUSIONS

There are numerous challenges and opportunities that arise when performing AC in LICs/LMICs. A collaborative approach toward harnessing the opportunities, and seeking creative solutions to address the challenges, would provide an ideal mechanism toward advancing neurosurgical care and specialty worldwide.

"It changes everything": Understanding how people experience the impact of living with a lower-grade glioma

Background

Quantitative studies show people living with a lower-grade glioma (LGG) often report low health-related quality of life. However, it is unclear how this impact is experienced; resulting supportive care needs are also poorly understood. We explored how people experience the impact of living long-term with an LGG, to help identify potential supportive care needs.

Methods

We conducted semi-structured interviews with a diverse group of people with LGG (n = 28) across the United Kingdom, who had completed primary treatment (male n = 16, female n = 12, mean age 54.6 years, mean time since diagnosis 8.7 years). Interviews were transcribed and inductive thematic analysis was conducted.

Results

Four themes relating to the impact experiences of people with LGG were generated: "Emotional response to the diagnosis," "Living with the 'What ifs'," "Changing relationships," and "Faltering independence." These reflect participants' experiences with symptoms (eg, fatigue, seizures) and impairments (eg, motor dysfunction, cognitive deficits), and how these, in turn, drive impacts on daily living (including on work, relationships, social activities, and transport). Participants spoke about their experiences with profound emotion throughout.

Conclusions

People with LGG can experience wide-ranging everyday impacts and may have extensive supportive care needs. This study highlights how this impact is experienced and what it means to people with LGG. Best practice suggestions for conducting comprehensive needs assessments tailored to those with LGG, and the development of personalized plans to meet those needs, would be a critical step to ensure that people with LGG are best supported in living with their condition.

Barriers and facilitators to self-management in people living with a lower-grade glioma

PURPOSE

Self-management can have clinical and quality-of-life benefits. However, people with lower-grade gliomas (LGG) may face chronic tumour- and/or treatment-related symptoms and impairments (e.g. cognitive deficits, seizures), which could influence their ability to self-manage. Our study aimed to identify and understand the barriers and facilitators to self-management in people with LGG.

METHODS

We conducted semi-structured interviews with 28 people with LGG across the United Kingdom, who had completed primary treatment. Sixteen participants were male, mean age was 50.4 years, and mean time since diagnosis was 8.7 years. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Following inductive open coding, we deductively mapped codes to Schulman-Green et al.'s framework of factors influencing self-management, developed in chronic illness.

RESULTS

Data suggested extensive support for all five framework categories ('Personal/lifestyle characteristics', 'Health status', 'Resources', 'Environmental characteristics', 'Healthcare system'), encompassing all 18 factors influencing self-management. How people with LGG experience many of these factors appears somewhat distinct from other cancers; participants described multiple, often co-occurring, challenges, primarily with knowledge and acceptance of their incurable condition, the impact of seizures and cognitive deficits, transport difficulties, and access to (in)formal support. Several factors were on a continuum, for example, sufficient knowledge was a facilitator, whereas lack thereof, was a barrier to self-management.

CONCLUSIONS

People with LGG described distinctive experiences with wide-ranging factors influencing their ability to self-manage.

IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS

These findings will improve awareness of the potential challenges faced by people with LGG around self-management and inform development of self-management interventions for this population.

High costs, low quality of life, reduced survival, and room for improving treatment: an analysis of burden and unmet needs in glioma

Gliomas are a group of heterogeneous tumors that account for substantial morbidity, mortality, and costs to patients and healthcare systems globally. Survival varies considerably by grade, histology, biomarkers, and genetic alterations such as IDH mutations and MGMT promoter methylation, and treatment, but is poor for some grades and histologies, with many patients with glioblastoma surviving less than a year from diagnosis. The present review provides an introduction to glioma, including its classification, epidemiology, economic and humanistic burden, as well as treatment options. Another focus is on treatment recommendations for IDH-mutant astrocytoma, IDH-mutant oligodendroglioma, and glioblastoma, which were synthesized from recent guidelines. While recommendations are nuanced and reflect the complexity of the disease, maximum safe resection is typically the first step in treatment, followed by radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy using temozolomide or procarbazine, lomustine, and vincristine. Immunotherapies and targeted therapies currently have only a limited role due to disappointing clinical trial results, including in recurrent glioblastoma, for which the nitrosourea lomustine remains the de facto standard of care. The lack of treatment options is compounded by frequently suboptimal clinical practice, in which patients do not receive adequate therapy after resection, including delayed, shortened, or discontinued radiotherapy and chemotherapy courses due to treatment side effects. These unmet needs will require significant efforts to address, including a continued search for novel treatment options, increased awareness of clinical guidelines, improved toxicity management for chemotherapy, and the generation of additional and more robust clinical and health economic evidence.

Verbal fluency predicts work resumption after awake surgery in low-grade glioma patients

BACKGROUND

Resuming professional activity after awake surgery for diffuse low-grade glioma (DLGG) is an important goal, which is not reached in every patient. Cognitive deficits can occur and persist after surgery. In this study, we analyzed the impact of mild cognitive impairments on the work resumption.

METHODS

Fifty-four surgeries (including five redo surgeries) performed between 2012 and 2020 for grade 2 (45) and 3 (nine) DLGG in 49 professionally active patients (mean age 40 [range 23-58.) were included. We retrospectively extracted the results of semantic and phonemic verbal fluency tests from preoperative and 4-month postoperative cognitive assessments. Patients were interviewed about their working life after surgery, between April and June 2021.

RESULTS

Patients (85%) returned to work, most within 3 to 6 months. Patients (76%) reported subjective complaints (primarily fatigue). Self-reported symptoms and individual and clinical variables had no impact on the work resumption. Late-postoperative average Z-scores in verbal fluency tasks were significantly lower than preoperative for the entire cohort (Wilcoxon test, p < 0.001 for semantic and p = 0.008 for phonemic fluency). The decrease in Z-scores was significantly greater (Mann Whitney U-test, semantic, p = 0.018; phonemic, p = 0.004) in the group of patients who did not return to work than in the group of patients who did.

CONCLUSION

The proportion of patients returning to work was comparable to similar studies. A decrease in verbal fluency tasks could predict the inability to return to work.

Longitudinal assessment of quality of life, neurocognition, and psychopathology in patients with low-grade glioma on first-line temozolomide: A feasibility study

Background

The treatment timing and choice after neurosurgical resection in patients with newly diagnosed diffuse low-grade glioma (DLGG) remain controversial. Indeed, the effect of such treatments must be balanced with the possible side effects. This study evaluated the feasibility of longitudinal exhaustive quality of life (QoL) and neuropsychological assessments in patients with DLGG receiving first-line temozolomide.

Methods

QoL, neurocognition, and psychological disorders were assessed prospectively until disease progression, using testing, clinician-reported, and self-reported questionnaires. The primary endpoint was the participation and adherence to this complete assessment at Baseline (before temozolomide initiation), months 6 and 12 of treatment, and month 6 post-treatment. The QoL and neuropsychological changes over time also were described.

Results

Twenty-six of the twenty-nine eligible patients were enrolled (participation rate: 89.7%, 95% CI: 72.6-97.8). The adherence rate was 95.7% (95% CI: 78.1-99.9; n = 23 because 3 patients progressed in the first 12 months of treatment). Up to month 6 post-treatment, QoL and fatigue remained stable (EORTC QLQC30 and BN20, MFI-20); some specific symptoms were transitory. Both subjective (FACT-Cog) and objective (Z-scores of neurocognitive tests) neurocognitive outcomes remained stable or tended to improve. The percentage of patients with severe depression (BDI-II), anxiety (STAI-Y), or anger (STAXI-II) was stable over time.

Conclusions

This prospective study demonstrated the feasibility of an exhaustive and longitudinal evaluation of QoL, neurocognition, and psychological disorders, with high acceptability by patients with DLGG undergoing chemotherapy. First-line temozolomide seems to have limited short-term effects on QoL and neurocognition. These findings must be confirmed in the long term and in a larger cohort.

Patient and caregiver return to work after a primary brain tumor

Background

Studies focusing on the return to work (RTW) experiences of patients with a brain tumor (BT) are scarce. We aimed to explore, in-depth, the occupational expectations, experiences, and satisfaction of patients who RTW after a BT diagnosis and treatment, those not able to, and their family caregivers.

Methods

This multicenter, cross-sectional study utilized semi-structured interviews and reflexive thematic analysis. Interviews were conducted with adults diagnosed with primary BT, in employment/self-employed before diagnosis, currently in follow-up care, and also with their caregivers.

Results

In total, 23 interviews (17 patients/6 caregivers) took place. Five themes were developed: (1) Early (adjustments and) expectations: "Thought I would be back at work the following Monday"; pre-treatment patients wanted to be better informed about potential recovery time and side-effects. (2) Drivers to RTW: "Getting my life back on track"; RTW was seen as a symbol of normality and also dictated by financial pressures. (3) Experiences returning to work: "It's had its ups and downs": patients who had successfully returned were supported by employers financially, emotionally, and practically. (4) Required support: "He had surgery and that was it": suggested support included a back-to-work scheme and comprehensive financial support. (5) Caring and paid work: The "juggling act": carer's work was significantly impacted; often reducing/increasing their working hours while managing increasing caring demands.

Conclusions

Future research focusing on RTW in neuro-oncology populations is needed. Interventions should be developed to improve employer/employee communication, and increase knowledge about BT care and possibilities for RTW, to support patients and caregivers towards sustained employment.

Experiences of work for people living with a grade 2/3 oligodendroglioma: a qualitative analysis within the Ways Ahead study

OBJECTIVES

This study aimed to explore the work experiences of people living with an oligodendroglioma.

DESIGN

This was a descriptive qualitative study. One-time semi-structured interviews exploring supportive care needs were conducted; work was discussed at various points throughout each interview. An inductive thematic analysis was undertaken.

SETTING

Participants were recruited across the UK through four National Health Service hospitals and the Brain Tumour Charity research involvement networks.

PARTICIPANTS

19 people with grade 2 or 3 oligodendroglioma (mean age 52 years; male n=11). At diagnosis, 16 participants were working, 2 studying and 1 retired. At the interview (mean time since diagnosis 9.6 years; range 1-18 years), seven participants were working, eight retired (four on medical grounds) and four unable to work due to illness.

RESULTS

Seven themes were constructed: (1) physical and cognitive limitations; (2) work ability and productivity; (3) work accommodations; (4) changing roles; (5) attitudes of clients and coworkers; (6) feelings and ambitions; and (7) financial implications. Fatigue, seizures and cognitive deficits influenced work ability. A stressful work environment could exacerbate symptoms. Changes in job roles and work environment were often required. Employer and coworker support were integral to positive experiences. Work changes could result in financial stress and strain.

CONCLUSIONS

This study has highlighted, for the first time, influences on work experiences in this understudied population. These findings have implications for clinicians and employers, when considering the importance of work in rehabilitation for people with oligodendrogliomas, and the individually assessed adjustments required to accommodate them, should employment be desired.

Oncological, cognitive, and employment outcomes in a series of patients with IDH-mutated glioma resected following neoadjuvant chemotherapy

PURPOSE

Maximal safe tumor resection is the first line of treatment for IDH-mutated gliomas. However, when upfront surgical resection is deemed unsatisfactory due to tumor size and location, chemotherapy could represent an interesting alternative for reducing glioma extension and allowing for a safer and more efficient removal.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective study (June 2011 to December 2021) on patients with IDH-mutated gliomas undergoing chemotherapy with a neoadjuvant intent, followed by surgical excision in awake conditions. MRI-imaging follow-up was conducted every 3-6 months. Neuropsychological assessments (NPSA) were performed for all patients before surgery, during post-operative period, and at later follow-up, and patients were periodically interviewed about their clinical and job status.

RESULTS

We included 6 patients who underwent awake surgery after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (temozolomide in 5 cases, PCV in 1 case) for an IDH-mutated glioma (3 oligodendrogliomas and 3 astrocytomas). Median tumor volume reduction was 47%, allowing for complete resection in one patient, subtotal resection in 4 patients, and partial resection in 1 patient. No major adverse effects were observed under chemotherapy. At the 4 months NPSA, a worsening of flexibility was observed in 2 patients (verbal fluencies in one case and trail making test in the other). Three out of the four patients working full time before procedure resumed their job full time, after a 7 to 10 months delay.

CONCLUSION

Neoadjuvant chemotherapy followed by maximal safe resection can be offered to patients affected by IDH-mutated gliomas for whom upfront surgery would be inadequate. More studies are necessary given the limited size of our sample.

Awake Craniotomy in Africa: A Scoping Review of Literature and Proposed Solutions to Tackle Challenges

BACKGROUND

Awake craniotomy (AC) is a common neurosurgical procedure for the resection of lesions in eloquent brain areas, which has the advantage of avoiding general anesthesia to reduce associated complications and costs. A significant resource limitation in low- and middle-income countries constrains the usage of AC.

OBJECTIVE

To review the published literature on AC in African countries, identify challenges, and propose pragmatic solutions by practicing neurosurgeons in Africa.

METHODS

We conducted a scoping review under Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis-Scoping Review guidelines across 3 databases (PubMed, Scopus, and Web of Science). English articles investigating AC in Africa were included.

RESULTS

Nineteen studies consisting of 396 patients were included. Egypt was the most represented country with 8 studies (42.1%), followed by Nigeria with 6 records (31.6%). Glioma was the most common lesion type, corresponding to 120 of 396 patients (30.3%), followed by epilepsy in 71 patients (17.9%). Awake-awake-awake was the most common protocol used in 7 studies (36.8%). Sixteen studies (84.2%) contained adult patients. The youngest reported AC patient was 11 years old, whereas the oldest one was 92. Nine studies (47.4%) reported infrastructure limitations for performing AC, including the lack of funding, intraoperative monitoring equipment, imaging, medications, and limited human resources.

CONCLUSION

Despite many constraints, AC is being safely performed in low-resource settings. International collaborations among centers are a move forward, but adequate resources and management are essential to make AC an accessible procedure in many more African neurosurgical centers.

Brain Plasticity Profiling as a Key Support to Therapeutic Decision-Making in Low-Grade Glioma Oncological Strategies

The ability of neural circuits to compensate for damage to the central nervous system is called postlesional plasticity. In diffuse low-grade gliomas (LGGs), a crosstalk between the brain and the tumor activates modulations of plasticity, as well as tumor proliferation and migration, by means of paracrine and electrical intercommunications. Such adaptative mechanisms have a major impact on the benefits and risks of oncological treatments but are still disregarded by current neuro-oncological guidelines. In this review, the authors first aimed to highlight clinical, radiological, and oncological markers that robustly reflect the plasticity potentials and limitations in LGG patients, including the location of the tumor and the degree of critical white matter tract infiltration, the velocity of tumor expansion, and the reactional changes of neuropsychological performances over time. Second, the interactions between the potential/limitations of cerebral plasticity and the efficacy/tolerance of treatment options (i.e., surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy) are reviewed. Finally, a longitudinal and multimodal treatment approach accounting for the evolutive profiles of brain plasticity is proposed. Such an approach integrates personalized predictive models of plasticity potentials with a step-by-step therapeutic decision making and supports onco-functional balanced strategies in patients with LGG, with the ultimate aim of optimizing overall survival and quality of life.

New perspectives: glioma in adult patients

The purpose of this editorial is to consider some of the aspects of the diagnosis and treatment of adult gliomas. These are rare diseases with all their limitations. Innovations in diagnosis and therapy and their constraints are analyzed and compared with the current treatment reality. Aspects affecting these patients' quality of life are highlighted.

Oncological and functional neurosurgery: Perspectives for the decade regarding diffuse gliomas

For decades, diffuse glioma (DG) studies mostly focused on oncological considerations, whereas functional outcomes received less attention. Currently, because overall survival has increased in DG, especially in low-grade glioma (overall survival > 15 years), quality of life including neurocognitive and behavioral aspects should be assessed and preserved more systematically, particularly regarding surgery. Indeed, early maximal tumor removal results in greater survival in both high-grade and low-grade gliomas, leading to propose "supra-marginal" resection, with excision of the peritumoral zone in diffuse neoplasms. To minimize functional risks while maximizing the extent of resection, traditional "tumor-mass resection" is replaced by "connectome-guided resection" conducted under awake mapping, taking into account inter-individual brain anatomo-functional variability. A better understanding of the dynamic interplay between DG progression and reactional neuroplastic mechanisms is critical to adapt a personalized multistage therapeutic strategy, with integration of functional neurooncological (re)operation(s) in a multimodal management scheme including repeated medical therapies. Because the therapeutic armamentarium remains limited, the aims of this paradigmatic shift are to predict one/several step(s) ahead glioma behavior, its modifications, and compensatory neural networks reconfiguration over time in order to optimize the onco-functional benefit of each treatment - either in isolation or in combination with others - in human beings bearing a chronic tumoral disease while enjoying an active familial and socio-professional life as close as possible to their expectations. Thus, new ecological endpoints such as return to work should be incorporated into future DG trials. "Preventive neurooncology" might also be envisioned, by proposing a screening policy to discover and treat incidental glioma earlier.

Beyond Avoiding Hemiplegia after Glioma Surgery: The Need to Map Complex Movement in Awake Patient to Preserve Conation

Improving the onco-functional balance has always been a challenge in glioma surgery, especially regarding motor function. Given the importance of conation (i.e., the willingness which leads to action) in patient's quality of life, we propose here to review the evolution of its intraoperative assessment through a reminder of the increasing knowledge of its neural foundations-based upon a meta-networking organization at three levels. Historical preservation of the primary motor cortex and pyramidal pathway (first level), which was mostly dedicated to avoid hemiplegia, has nonetheless shown its limits to prevent the occurrence of long-term deficits regarding complex movement. Then, preservation of the movement control network (second level) has permitted to prevent such more subtle (but possibly disabling) deficits thanks to intraoperative mapping with direct electrostimulations in awake conditions. Finally, integrating movement control in a multitasking evaluation during awake surgery (third level) enabled to preserve movement volition in its highest and finest level according to patients' specific demands (e.g., to play instrument or to perform sports). Understanding these three levels of conation and its underlying cortico-subcortical neural basis is therefore critical to propose an individualized surgical strategy centered on patient's choice: this implies an increasingly use of awake mapping and cognitive monitoring regardless of the involved hemisphere. Moreover, this also pleads for a finer and systematic assessment of conation before, during and after glioma surgery as well as for a stronger integration of fundamental neurosciences into clinical practice.

A Personalized Longitudinal Strategy in Low-Grade Glioma Patients: Predicting Oncological and Neural Interindividual Variability and Its Changes over Years to Think One Step Ahead

Diffuse low-grade glioma (LGG) is a rare cerebral cancer, mostly involving young adults with an active life at diagnosis. If left untreated, LGG widely invades the brain and becomes malignant, generating neurological worsening and ultimately death. Early and repeat treatments for this incurable tumor, including maximal connectome-based surgical resection(s) in awake patients, enable postponement of malignant transformation while preserving quality of life owing to constant neural network reconfiguration. Due to considerable interindividual variability in terms of LGG course and consecutive cerebral reorganization, a multistage longitudinal strategy should be tailored accordingly in each patient. It is crucial to predict how the glioma will progress (changes in growth rate and pattern of migration, genetic mutation, etc.) and how the brain will adapt (changes in patterns of spatiotemporal redistribution, possible functional consequences such as epilepsy or cognitive decline, etc.). The goal is to anticipate therapeutic management, remaining one step ahead in order to select the optimal (re-)treatment(s) (some of them possibly kept in reserve), at the appropriate time(s) in the evolution of this chronic disease, before malignization and clinical worsening. Here, predictive tumoral and non-tumoral factors, and their ever-changing interactions, are reviewed to guide individual decisions in advance based on patient-specific markers, for the treatment of LGG.