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| |  AANS MEETING: Study Shows Depression In Brain Tumor Patients May Go Untreated BOSTON, MA -- April 28, 1999 -- Depression is the most common post-operative complication seen in patients who have undergone surgery for brain tumors, but it may be under-recognized and is seldom treated, new research shows. The preliminary findings of this study were presented at an annual meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons here today. The study involved data on 285 patients enrolled at 54 clinical sites in the U.S. and Canada who had undergone surgery for high-grade glioma, a tumor that originates in the structural tissue of the brain and is the most common form of primary brain cancer. Researchers found that while 34 percent of the patients reported experiencing at least two weeks of post-operative depression during the last year, physicians had diagnosed post-operative depression in only 14 percent of the patients, and only five percent of those diagnosed - exactly 15 patients - received antidepressant medication. Although a planned two-year follow-up is still ongoing, "These preliminary findings demonstrate the magnitude of the problem of post-operative depression in glioma patients," said Frederick A. Anderson, Jr., Ph.D., Director of the Center for Outcomes Research and co-author of the study with N. Scott Litofsky, M.D., F.A.C.S., Associate Professor of Surgery in the Division of Neurosurgery, both at the University of Massachusetts Medical School in Worcester. "These observations should help physicians become more aware of the symptoms of depression in their patients." The study is the first research to emerge from the Glioma Outcomes (GO) Project, the only cooperative registry of health-related outcomes for patients who undergo surgery for high-grade glioma. The goal of this North American database is to provide valuable data for the evaluation and improvement in care of patients with glioma. Patient accrual in the GO Project began in November 1997, and the database is being coordinated by the Center for Outcomes Research at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. The Project is underwritten by an educational grant from Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Pharmaceuticals Inc., marketer of Gliadel® Wafer (polifeprosan 20 with carmustine implant). Gliadel Wafer is used as an adjunct to surgery to prolong survival in patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme, the most common type of glioma and the most rapidly fatal type of brain cancer. The GO Project is designed to track trends in patient characteristics and glioma care, including natural history, risk factors, diagnostic approach, resource utilization and treatment methods. Participating neurosurgeons report data on their glioma patients at surgery and at three month intervals for up to two years. Patients, who provide written informed consent, complete questionnaires regarding their functional status and satisfaction with care at similar intervals. The central data coordinating center summarizes and analyzes the data and sends regular reports to neurosurgeons. "Quality of life issues for glioma patients are rarely addressed," added Dr. Anderson. "The Glioma Outcomes Project will provide physicians with benchmark data that allow them to compare their individual practice patterns and outcomes with the experience of their peers in caring for comparable patients, and identify opportunities to improve quality of care for those patients."
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