Monday 21 May saw Scotland’s first Brain Tumour Symposium – a collaborative effort between brainstrust, Brain Tumour Research and The Beatson Cancer Charity – bringing together healthcare professionals, support services, patients and caregivers to share the latest in support, treatment and research.
Headlines from the day
Carol, brainstrust’s Support Specialist in Scotland, attended the Symposium and said the day was a great success. For those of you who couldn’t make it, she’s shared her headlines from the day:
- We had around 80 attendees who comprised of HCPs, patients and caregivers. Everyone agreed that it was a very informative day
- Robin Grant shared an overview of the clinical research agenda and NCRI
- Professor Anthony Chalmers explained about radiotherapy and drug combination research being most effective with glioblastoma treatment
- Dr Gerry Thompson shared about new imaging directions that need to be taken, to help solve issues of lack of clarity in scans
- With PBT being very much spoken about within the brain tumour community, Anthony Crellin spoke about PBT and its accuracy on some brain tumours compared to conventional radiotherapy treatment
- Whilst the morning session was very much clinical based the afternoon focused on the patient
- Stefan Nowicki spoke about immunotherapy for brain tumours. At present there’s no real evidence that it is effective in primary tumours
- Ally Rooney spoke about behaviour, and how to manage personality changes
- Beatson Physiotherapists and OT Sarah Humphries and Judith Rennie shared case studies on neuro-rehabilitation given to patients
- Dr Florien Boele shared current research on caregiver support for patients and what needs to be considered going forward
- The Symposium closed with a very engaging talk from patient Michael O’Donnell about the role of the patient and caregiver in their care. As well as being a patient Michael is the Chaplain at the QEUH in Glasgow
brainstrust’s resources
The brainstrust table was packed with our resources, which were eagerly received by patients, caregivers and HCPs alike.
If our resources would be useful to you and your family, you can take a look and request them here.
Carol heard great things when getting patient and caregiver feedback on the day. One caregiver said: ‘The Symposium was excellent. I did enjoy the day and my congratulations to you and your team who put it together. It was, in my opinion, a great success.’
An English Brain Tumour Symposium is in the process of being organised for later in the year. If you are interested and would like to be notified with more information when it becomes available, please let us know here.
