Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23161120›Full record

ArticleStrahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al]2013

Proxy assessment of patients before and after radiotherapy for brain metastases. Results of a prospective study using the DEGRO brain module.

D Steinmann, D Vordermark, H Geinitz, R Aschoff, A Bayerl, J Gerstein, M Hipp, B van Oorschot, H J Wypior, C Schäfer

Abstract readComparative StudyMulticenter StudyValidation Study
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In one paragraph

Article in Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al], 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
5citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

5 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Article
  3. Validating self-report and proxy reports of the Dexamethasone Symptom Questionnaire -Chronic for the evaluation of longer-term corticosteroid toxicity.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2016
    Article
  4. Hippocampus sparing in whole-brain radiotherapy. A review.Strahlentherapie und Onkologie : Organ der Deutschen Rontgengesellschaft ... [et al] · 2014
    Review
  5. Best supportive care in patients with brain metastases and adverse prognostic factors: development of improved decision aids.Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer · 2013
    Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

10 authors.

D SteinmannDepartment of Radiation Oncology, Medical School Hannover, Carl-Neuberg-Str. 1, 30625, Hannover, Germany. steinmann.diana@mh-hannover.de
D Vordermark
H Geinitz
R Aschoff
A Bayerl
J Gerstein
M Hipp
B van Oorschot
H J Wypior
C Schäfer

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

purposeProxies of patients with poor performance status could give useful information about the patients' quality of life (QoL). We applied a newly developed questionnaire in a prospective QoL study of patients undergoing radiotherapy for brain metastases in order to make the first move to validate this instrument, and we compared the results with scores obtained using validated patient-completed instruments. MATERIALS AND

methodsFrom January 2007 to June 2010,  166 patients with previously untreated brain metastases were recruited at 14 centers in Germany and Austria. The EORTC-QLQ-C15-PAL and the brain module BN20 were used to assess QoL in patients at the start of treatment and 3 months later. At the same time points, 141 of their proxies estimated the QoL with the new DEGRO brain module (DBM), a ten-item questionnaire rating the general condition as well as functions and impairment by symptoms in areas relevant to patients with brain metastases.

resultsAt 3 months, 85 of 141 patients (60%) with initial response by a proxy were alive. Sixty-seven of these patients (79% of 3-month survivors) and 65 proxies completed the second set of questionnaires. After 3 months, QoL significantly deteriorated in all items of proxy-assessed QoL except headache. Correlations between self-assessed and proxy-assessed QoL were high in single items such as nausea, headache, and fatigue.

conclusionsThe high correlation between self-assessment and proxy ratings as well as a similar change over time for both approaches suggest that in patients with brain metastases, proxy assessment using the DBM questionnaire can be an alternative approach to obtaining QoL data when patients are unable to complete questionnaires themselves. Our self-constructed and first applied DBM is the only highly specific instrument for patients with brain metastases, but further tests are needed for its final validation.

Indexed as

Disability EvaluationProxyQuality of LifeSurveys and QuestionnairesAdultAgedAged, 80 and overBrain NeoplasmsDiagnostic Self EvaluationDose Fractionation, RadiationFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedObserver VariationProspective Studies

Identifiers

PMID23161120

What OpenQuestion holds

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.