Acta clinica Croatica, Vol. 61. No. 1., 2022.
Professional paper
https://doi.org/10.20471/acc.2022.61.01.15
A Prospective Observational Study to Assess Waiting Times to First Treatment in Patients Diagnosed with Brain Tumor
Josipa Bilandžić
; Institute of Emergency Medicine, Šibenik-Knin County, Šibenik, Croatia
Abstract
The aim was to investigate and determine waiting intervals from diagnosis to first
treatment in brain tumor patients. A prospective observational study was performed at the Department
of Neurology, Split University Hospital Center, Split, Croatia, from February 21, 2016 until
April 10, 2017. The inclusion criterion was the diagnosis of brain tumor confirmed by standard neuroimaging
methods. The diagnosis-to-treatment interval (DTI) was defined as the time interval between
the date of confirmed radiological diagnosis and the initiation of definitive treatment. Out of 73
patients diagnosed with brain tumor, 3 of them died, 16 were discharged for symptomatic treatment,
and the rest were cured by surgical and/or oncologic procedures. The median DTI for any kind of
treatment was 15.5 days. The median DTI for radio-guided and resection surgery was 14 days, while
the median DTI for the initial oncologic treatment was 42 days. The median DTI of 15.5 days for
brain tumors is still, by a wide margin, beyond the preferable one-digit number. When compared to
the available data from other countries, however, it seems that the health system in Croatia provides
the same, if not a slightly higher, level of efficiency. The median DTI for primary oncologic treatment
did, however, indicate a substantial delay.
Keywords
Brain tumor; Brain neoplasms; Waiting time; Surgical therapy; Oncologic therapy
Hrčak ID:
280256
URI
Publication date:
1.3.2022.
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