Dr Ekokobe Fonkem, Neurologist/Nuero-Oncologist, Barrow Neurological Institute, Phoenix, Arizona (host of the month of February'22 meeting series), and his colleagues, Professor Jeanette Parkes, Chief of Radiation Medicine, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa and Dr Teddy Totimeh, Professor of Neurosurgery, University of Ghana, Accra, Ghana highlighted several of Dr EC's talking points from her presentation during the questions and answers session.
Taking from the most recent research on meningioma brain tumor diagnoses, treatment, recovery, and quality of life affects, conducted Dr Amir Zamanipoor Najafabadi, Neurosurgeon, Leiden University Medical Center in Leiden, The Netherlands, where his findings concluded that medical treatments require a paradigm shift from that of a sole focus on the tumor, to that of the total needs of the patient (e.g. quality of life measures), My SNOSSA talk was strengthen by this recently published research.
The presentation's most profound points were formulated using a query and statement format.
Query: Is the current treatment of brain tumors focused on the tumor only or the entire patient?
Statement: The service care gap that currently exists between healthcare personnel, patient/survivors, caregivers and families should undergo a transformation which would result in improved quality of life treatment plans.
Dr Fonkem stated: "the quality of life" rather than "the quantity life" should be at the forefront of current day treatment plans for brain tumor patients/survivors, because the quality of life is not predictable, however, the quantity of life of most brain tumor patients is.
Dr Parks questioned: the high degree of sophistication used in the development of new technologies (i.e. gene study biomarker used for more accurately identifying the type and location of cancerous brain tumors) and its actual place in establishing patient/survivors treatment options, adds yet another "cog in the wheel" when these new technologies usage cannot be directly aligned with/to improve better patient treatment outcomes in the quality of life conversations.
Dr Totimeh asked: Dr EC to further offer suggestions on how to close the gap she identified that currently exists in getting patient/survivor care teams to reframe from operating in-situ and her approach to the Collab Networks that is being promoted by MBTN between and amongst brain tumor healthcare personnel, caregivers and families.