Care of children with brain and spine tumours - A review of practice
Goodden JR et al. - In a study to assess the current practice in paediatric tumour management by the departments of neurosurgery and oncology, compare these with nationally agreed recommendations, and examine for areas of improvement, this study has identified the need to improve certain aspects of care to offer further improvements to the specialist service delivered. Methods- Pt records were identified from departmental databases - 30 pts treated from October 2004 to May 2006.
- Factors assessed included reatment timelines (eg, referral to admission and imaging, admission to surgery, surgery to further treatment), imaging, MDT discussion, and paediatric neurosurgery and neuro-oncology treatments.
Results- Of acute referrals, all pts were admitted within 2 days.
- All surgery was undertaken by a dedicated paediatric neurosurgeon with paediatric anaesthesia.
- All cases were discussed in a neuro-oncology MDT prior to surgery and 97% after surgery.
- In the first 6-mos, 57% received adjuvant treatment within 40 days; in the remaining period this improved to 91%.
- When measured against recognised benchmark standards, the SCH paediatric neuro-oncology service appears satisfactory.
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