Annually more than 1800 new cases of brain cancer are diagnosed in Australia with only one in five patients alive at 5 years after diagnosis (1). Althoughequating toless than 1.5% of all cancers, the most common subtype of brain cancer, Glioblastoma, accounts for more thantwo thirdsof diagnoses and is an aggressive cancer with high risk of relapse and death within two years from presentation. Additionally the cancer has significant impact on an affected person’s functional status with multidimensional impacts on the individual and family (2,3)....

A retrospective audit was performed from established prospective databases in patients managed consecutively with radiation therapy(RT) for GBM between 2016-2019. Additional data regarding mode of presentation, described presentation symptoms andcarersupport were obtained fromelectronic medical records (eMR), clinician correspondence and interview with clinical teams. Major endpoints were performance status (ECOG) at 6 months post RT, and median overall survival (mOS) from diagnosis. Correlation was performed for association with clinical factors such as presenting symptom cluster, tumour site, and initial performance status. The level ofcarersupport and objective...

One hundred and eighty-two patients with GBM were managed consecutively between 2016-2019 and were eligible for the analysis. The RT regimen was 60Gy in75% and 40Gy in 25% of patients. Fifty-two percent of patients presented directly to Emergency and 63% had initial symptom for less than one week. Major initial presenting symptom was personality change in 23% of patients, whilstgeneralisedseizure (18%), motor deficit (14%) and focal seizure (14%) occurred frequently. Headache as predominant symptom was only evident in 12%; and speech (9%) and visual disturbance...

In patients with GBM initial presenting symptoms, level of performance status and role ofcarerinfluence clinical outcome and survival. These findings can assist in the screening and early diagnosis of GBM based on presenting symptoms, and may guide the design of rehabilitation and supportive care services tooptimisefuture patient care.

Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) 2017a, Brain and other central nervous system cancers, Cat. no. CAN 106, AIHW, Canberra. Coomans, M. B., Dirven, L., Aaronson, N. K., Baumert, B. G., Van Den Bent, M., Bottomley, A., Brandes, A. A., Chinot, O., Coens, C., Gorlia, T., Herrlinger, U., Keime-Guibert, F., Malmström, A., Martinelli, F., Stupp, R., Talacchi, A., Weller, M., Wick, W., Reijneveld, J. C., & Taphoorn, M. J. B. (2019).Symptom clusters in newly diagnosed glioma patients: Which symptom clusters are independently associated with...