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2006
Terri S. Armstrong, D.S.N.
M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Gauging Impact of Treatment on Symptoms, Health Related Quality of Life and Neurocognitive Function in Patients with Primary Brain Tumors
(Co-funded with the Tug McGraw Foundation)
Typically, clinical trials measure efficacy in terms of response or survival. Although recent clinical trials have demonstrated improved survival with novel therapeutic regimens, patients diagnosed with glioblastoma (GBM) face unique obstacles. Management of these patients presents new challenges - partly due to the complexity of the disease and treatment - and the effect of the disease and treatment for the patients is rarely assessed.
This research grant will build upon the current work of the Radiation Therapy Oncology Group's large international collaborative clinical trial (RTOG 0525) that evaluates the survival benefit of standard radiation and chemotherapy compared to dose-intense (temozolomide) chemotherapy. While preliminary studies suggest that the intensive regime is tolerable, there may be important impact on other measures of patient status, such as health related quality of life, symptom burden and neurocognitive function.
In her study, Dr. Armstrong aims to look beyond survivability and treatment response to quantify the impact of an increased dose-intensity of temozolomide in the adjuvant phase of treatment on quality of life, symptom burden and neurocognitive function. Dr. Armstrong's study holds the potential to establish a new paradigm of therapeutic efficacy whereas the assessment of treatment impact on the patient is combined with traditional measures of treatment efficacy. Prospectively, Armstrong intends to advance the field by establishing a new standard for comprehensive treatment evaluation in multi-center trials.
The Accelerate Brain Cancer Cure/Tug McGraw Foundation Grant will support enrollment, testing and analysis of 240 study patients.
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