Clinical presentation and patterns of care for short-term survivors of malignant glioma

Palliative care provision for patients with high-grade malignant glioma is often under-utilised. Difficulties in prognostication and inter-patient variability in survival may limit timely referral. This study sought to (1) describe the clinical presentation of short-term survivors of malignant glioma (survival time <120 days); (2) map their hospital utilisation, including palliative and supportive care service use, and place of death; (3) identify factors which may be important to serve as a prompt for palliative care referral. A retrospective cohort study of incident malignant glioma cases between 2003–2009 surviving <120 days in Victoria, Australia was undertaken (n = 482). Cases were stratified according to the patient’s survival status (dead vs. alive) at the end of the diagnosis admission, and at 120 days from diagnosis. Palliative care was received by 78 % of patients who died during the diagnosis admission. Only 12 % of patients who survived the admission and then deteriorated rapidly dying in the following 120 days were referred to palliative care in their hospital admission, suggesting an important clinical subgroup that may miss out on being linked into palliative care services. The strongest predictor of death during the diagnosis admission was the presence of cognitive or behavioural symptoms, which may be an important prompt for early palliative care referral.