The IBTA’s monthly e-News has been released and has emailed to all subscribers. To sign up to receive your copy, click here.
You can also read the IBTA e-News December 2021 edition in full online here.
Some of the highlights from this month’s round-up:
- The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in the United Kingdom recently published a new Quality Standard to help improve care provided to brain tumour patients by the National Health Service (NHS). The new Quality Standard covers diagnosis, monitoring and managing any type of primary brain tumour or brain metastases in adults (aged 16 and over).
- The European Cancer Organisation (E.C.O.) has published a Report: “Making Hope Reality: Action on Treatment and Care for Metastatic Cancer Patients”. The report provides a detailed account of the presentations and contributions made during a special Community 365 Roundtable Meeting on Metastatic Cancer, held virtually in October 2021 and which IBTA Co-Director Kathy Oliver co-chaired with the President of E.C.O., Dr Matti Aapro.
- The European Association of Neuro-Oncology (EANO) has issued a statement on the importance of COVID-19 vaccination which says: “EANO recommends timely vaccination against SARS CoV-2 to everyone, especially to healthcare workers and patients with tumors of the nervous system – get vaccinated (or get your booster shot) as soon as possible!”
- A special supplement (Volume 3, Issue Supplement_5, November 2021) of the journal Neuro-Oncology Advances has been published online, featuring 15 papers on brain metastases, authored by a wide range of eminent researchers and clinicians. All papers are open access. Read more here.
- The soon-to be-published World Health Organisation (WHO) Classification of Pediatric Tumors is the subject of a review article by Dr Stefan M Pfister and colleagues published in Cancer Discovery. The review focuses on how classification systems have rapidly transitioned from being mostly based on information available through microscope examination into those driven by molecular analysis of tumour tissue.
- Rare Diseases International (RDI), the NGO Committee for Rare Diseases, and EURORDIS-Rare Diseases Europe announced that the UN General Assembly formally adopted a resolution recognising the over 300 million persons living with a rare disease (PLWRD) worldwide and their families.
- An article in The Lancet has highlighted a case study of a patient diagnosed with a congenital spinal cord glioblastoma who achieved complete remission of disease after a treatment protocol directed by genomic sequencing. Following birth, a baby girl’s MRI revealed a high-grade tumour of the spine. A biopsy of the tumour confirmed a diagnosis of congenital spinal cord glioblastoma WHO grade 4.
- A new study published in Nature Cancer has found that some patients with recurrent glioblastoma might benefit from immunotherapy more than others. The researchers found that recurrent glioblastoma patients whose tumours carried a biomarker known as phosphorylated ERK were more likely to respond well to treatment with PD1 inhibitors, a type of immunotherapy.A preclinical study published in Nature Communications, has found a possible reason for why people with asthma appear to be less likely to develop brain tumours compared to others who do not have asthma. The researchers theorise that the mechanism of action revolves around the behaviour of T cells, a type of immune cell involved in the body’s adaptive immune response.
- A paper published in Neuro-Oncology Practice has highlighted the consequences of an adult glioma diagnosis on long-term health-related quality of life (HRQOL). The study’s authors describe these as: “…negative emotional/psychological/cognitive changes”; “fatigue, seizures and restricted daily activity”; and “social challenges” including “strained social relationships and financial problems”.
Our monthly e-News highlights items of interest to our international brain tumour community and is emailed to approximately 6,000 recipients. It gives a round-up of the latest research and treatment developments, news about brain tumour patient organisations around the world, and key forthcoming neuro-oncology scientific and patient conferences. You can sign up to receive the e-News every month by registering here.
To see an archive of existing e-News issues, click here.
