ArticleSupportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer2021
Assessment of Karnofsky (KPS) and WHO (WHO-PS) performance scores in brain tumour patients: the role of clinician bias.
Article in Supportive care in cancer : official journal of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Critical appraisal of patient-reported and clinician-reported outcome measures assessing functional outcomes in lower extremity bone sarcoma patients-a COSMIN-based systematic review.Journal of patient-reported outcomes · 2026Pooled it
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- Effectiveness of Yiqi Chupi powder for alleviating cancer-related fatigue in patients following colorectal cancer surgery: a randomized controlled trial.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2025Trial
- Clinical effect of Shugan Jieyu San for improving liver function and alleviating depression in patients with triple negative breast cancer.Journal of traditional Chinese medicine = Chung i tsa chih ying wen pan · 2025Trial
- Analysis of the effects of postoperative cluster nursing care on the incidence rate of postoperative complications and nutritional indicators in patients with primary laryngeal cancer.Clinical & translational oncology : official publication of the Federation of Spanish Oncology Societies and of the National Cancer Institute of Mexico · 2025Trial
- Impact of CT-assessed sarcopenia on the severity of odontogenic deep neck infections: a retrospective cohort study.Odontology · 2026Article
- Effect of patient factors and quality of life on ECOG assignment and inter-rater agreement in hospitalized cancer patients.The oncologist · 2026Observational
- Identification of new prognostic molecular markers in glioblastoma: a single-center retrospective study.The oncologist · 2026Article
- The Impact of Sociodemographic Disparities on Health-Related Quality of Life for Adults with Gliomas.Cancers · 2026Review
- OY-TES-1 Splice Variant V5a in Glioma: A Driver of Malignancy and Potential Therapeutic Target.Current medical science · 2026Article
- Awake craniotomy for brain tumor resection in the elderly: an institutional experience.Journal of neuro-oncology · 2026Article
- Analysis of prognostic factors influencing brain metastasis in EGFR-mutant lung adenocarcinoma and comparison of prognostic assessment models.Oncology letters · 2026Article
- A Home-Based Interdisciplinary Intervention to Enhance Functionality in Oncology Patients: Results from a Clinical Trial.Journal of clinical medicine · 2025Article
- Brain Metastases from Primary Cardiac Tumors: A Systematic Review of Diagnosis, Treatment, and Prognosis.Cancers · 2025Review
- Gut Mycobiome Changes During COVID-19 Disease.Journal of fungi (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Article
- The application of decision tree model based on clinicopathological risk factors and pre-operative MRI radiomics for predicting short-term recurrence of glioblastoma after total resection: a retrospective cohort study.American journal of cancer research · 2023Article
- The Monoterpenoid Perillyl Alcohol: Anticancer Agent and Medium to Overcome Biological Barriers.Pharmaceutics · 2021Review
- Molecular profile to guide personalized medicine in adult patients with primary brain tumors: results from the ProfiLER trial.Medical oncology (Northwood, London, England) · 2021Article
- Analysis of the Effect of Trastuzumab Combined with Docetaxel on Serum Tumor Markers in the Treatment of HER-2 Positive Breast Cancer and Factors Influencing Therapeutic Efficacy.Cancer management and research · 2021Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors.
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Abstract
purposeInclusion of brain tumour patients in oncological protocols may be hampered by their neurological impairment. The goal of this study was to assess the reliability of Karnofsky Performance Scale (KPS) and WHO Performance Scale (WHO-PS) scores in this population.
methodsA cross-sectional survey was conducted through the Association des Neuro-Oncologues d'Expression Française (ANOCEF) and European Neuro-Oncology Association (EANO) networks. Clinicians were asked to write a text defining their operative definition of a patient with ≥ 70 KPS and to assess KPS and WHO-PS in six different clinical case vignettes.
resultsTwo hundred seventy-six clinicians sent a response. The operative definition mentioned a normal life (89%), what patients were able (26%) or unable (29%) to do, normal cognitive processing (8%) and caregivers (6%). Older physicians mentioned more often what patients were unable to do (p = 0.005). The two scales were homogeneous in less severely handicapped patients only. More patients were excluded for hemiplegia than for expressive aphasia. Older physicians significantly excluded more patients for KPS and WHO-PS. Speciality of the physician significantly influenced scoring. On multivariable analysis, age and speciality of the physicians were correlated with KPS and WHO-PS rating even if adjusted on cases. Discordant scoring increased with severity of the deficit: in nearly all cases, the KPS would have denied, while WHO-PS would have allowed, access to a trial.
conclusionPerformance scores assigned to brain tumour patients are clinician and score dependant. WHO-PS would allow more access to a trial. Specific criteria should be developed for patients with neurological deficits to facilitate their access to trials.
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