Onkologie. 2022:16(6):305-311 | DOI: 10.36290/xon.2022.065

Palliative care in patients with primary brain tumours

Pavel Fadrus^{1, 3, 5}, Ondřej Sláma^{2, 4}, Ludmila Hynková^{2, 3, 5}, Tomáš Kazda³, Radek Lakomý⁴, Lucie Světláková^{2, 5}, Markéta Hanušová⁵, Irena Henzlová⁵, Regina Slámová⁶, Soňa Kryštofová^{1, 3, 5}, Marek Sova^{1, 5}, Vilém Juráň¹, Miloš Duba¹, Eduard Neuman^{1, 3}, Pavel Šlampa³, Martin Smrčka¹, Václav Vybíhal^{1, 6}

¹ Neurochirurgická klinika, Fakultní nemocnice Brno a Lékařské fakulty Masarykovy univerzity, Brno

² Centrum paliativní medicíny a léčby bolesti, Masarykův onkologický ústav, Brno

³ Klinika radiační onkologie LF MU, Masarykův onkologický ústav, Brno

⁴ Klinika komplexní onkologické péče, Masarykův onkologický ústav, Brno

⁵ Dům léčby bolesti s hospicem sv. Josefa, Rajhrad

⁶ Centrum paliativní péče, Brno

Palliative care (PP) is active multidisciplinary care, which is not primarily aimed at prolonging life or treatment of cancer patients, but at alleviating the symptoms of the underlying disease and thereby improving their quality of life. PP should already be provided during complex oncological care and be an integral part of it. This trend also applies to neuro-oncology patients with a primary brain tumour. Patients with a primary brain tumour do not belong to the most numerous group of oncology patients, but given that, in addition to general symptoms of oncological disease, they are also affected by a progressive neurological disease, they are a specific group of patients. During the care of these patients, PP tries to solve and positively influence not only the symptoms related to the oncological disease, but also includes psychological, social and spiritual care. In the event that the possibilities of oncological antitumor treatment are exhausted, or the treatment is terminated for various reasons, PP becomes the main treatment procedure. For patients with HGG (high grade glioma) - considering the progressive course of this disease - PP should be started immediately after surgery at the same time as the start of their oncological therapy. In patients with LGG (low grade glioma) - when the course of their disease is much more gradual - there are no clear recommendations for the initiation of multidisciplinary PP. This should be indicated and started depending on their current health and psychological state, with the aim of maintaining their good quality of life as long as possible during the course of the disease. The aim of this review article is to provide an overview of the most common symptoms in patients with a primary brain tumour with the possibility of influencing these symptoms within the framework of PP.

Keywords: primary brain tumour, gliomas, palliative care.

Accepted: November 22, 2022; Published: November 22, 2022  Show citation