Glioblastoma: Background, Standard Treatment Paradigms, and Supportive Care Considerations

• Published in: The Journal of law, medicine & ethics Vol. 42; no. 2; pp. 171 - 182
• Main Authors: Ellor, Susan V., Pagano-Young, Teri Ann, Avgeropoulos, Nicholas G.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA Blackwell Publishing Ltd 22.06.2014; SAGE Publications; Sage Publications, Inc; Cambridge University Press
• Subjects: Beneficence; Brain cancer; Brain Neoplasms - diagnosis; Brain Neoplasms - economics; Brain Neoplasms - mortality; Brain Neoplasms - therapy; Cancer; Care and treatment; Cost-Benefit Analysis; Glioblastoma - diagnosis; Glioblastoma - economics; Glioblastoma - mortality; Glioblastoma - therapy; Glioblastoma multiforme; Glioblastomas; Glioma; Health technology assessment; Humans; Medical Futility; Patient Care Team; Patients; Prognosis; Quality of Life; Radiation; Surgery; Terminal illnesses; Tumors
• ISSN: 1073-1105; 1748-720X
• DOI: 10.1111/jlme.12133

Glioblastoma is a brain tumor condition marked by rapid neurological and clinical demise, resulting in disproportionate disability for those affected. Caring for this group of patients is complex, intense, multidisciplinary in nature, and fraught with the need for expensive treatments, surveillance imaging, physician follow‐up, and rehabilitative, psychological, and social support interventions. Few of these patients return to the workforce for any meaningful time frame, and because of the enormity of the financial burden that patients, their caregivers, and society face, utilization reviews become the focus of ethical scrutiny.