Measuring the Quality of Treatment for Glioblastoma Multiforme Brain Tumors
The Brain Tumor Program of the Cedars-Sinai Department of Neurosurgery monitors a number of measures in its ongoing commitment to the quality of care it gives to patients. These measures include the volume of procedures done, average length of hospital stay and survival and mortality rate.
Craniotomy Procedures
To treat a patient who has a brain tumor, a neurosurgeon must usually perform a craniotomy. This is a type of brain surgery in which a piece of bone is temporarily removed from the skull to give neurosurgeons access to the brain. When the procedure is done, the bone is usually replaced using titanium plates, screws, wires or other methods of keeping the bone in place.
The graphs below reflect the number, average length of stay and mortality rate for craniotomies performed at Cedars-Sinai. The data are from the University HealthSystem Consortium (UHC), an alliance of 116 academic medical centers and 264 of their affiliated hospitals representing approximately 90% of the nation's nonprofit academic medical centers. Most of these facilities participate in UHC's Clinical DataBase/Resource Manager. The data were assessed on March 19, 2012 based on patients discharged between January 1, 2011 and December 31, 2011.
Craniotomy Volumes at the Brain Tumor Program
The graph below shows the total number of craniotomy procedures performed at the Cedars-Sinai Department of Neurosurgery's Brain Tumor Program. The data reflect craniotomies done from 2009 through 2011.
Average Length of Stay for Craniotomy Patients at Cedars-Sinai
The graph below compares the observed or actual number of days that a patient undergoing a craniotomy at Cedars-Sinai spent in the hospital. This is compared with the number of days a patient with a similar diagnosis, procedure, age, gender and complications is anticipated to stay in the hospital. (This is called the expected length of stay.)
Mortality Rates for Patients Undergoing Craniotomies at Cedars-Sinai
Mortality rates are the percentage of patients who underwent a procedure who died before being discharged from the hospital. The observed percent mortality is the actual percentage of patients who died following the specific procedure. The expected percent mortality is the percentage of patients who were anticipated to expire based on a similar diagnosis, procedure, age, gender and complications.
The graph below compares the observed mortality rate of craniotomy patients at Cedars-Sinai with the expected mortality rate.
A lower observed mortality rate is better than a higher one.
The graph below illustrates a mortality index (observed mortality / expected mortality) that is significantly lower than 1.0 for craniotomies performed between 2009 and 2011.
A lower mortality index is better than a higher one.
Glioblastoma Multiforme Brain Tumors
One of the most common -- and most malignant -- of tumors that originate in the brain are glioblastoma multiforme brain tumors.
At the Cedars-Sinai Department of Neurosurgery, patients from infancy to age 70 and above are treated for these tumors. The distribution of patients treated at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center for glioblastoma multiforme brain tumors is shown in the graph below. The graph reflects 462 patients who were diagnosed between Dec. 22, 1997, and Oct. 14, 2010.
Data Source: National Cancer Registry
The graph below describes the site of the glioblastoma tumors treated at the Cedars-Sinai Department of Neurosurgery during the time period above3.
Glioblastoma Multiforme Brain Tumor Survival Rate
The blue line in the graph below shows the percentage of patients with glioblastoma multiforme tumors treated at Cedars-Sinai who were alive by month from their original diagnosis. This is compared with the percentage of patients with such tumors expected to survive month-by-month following the original diagnosis (reflected in the green line). These data exclude patients who are younger than 20 years old as their survival differs significantly from adults.
The Cedars-Sinai data reflect the 462 patients who were diagnosed between Dec. 22, 1997 and Oct. 14, 2010. (Source: National Cancer Registry). The national estimates come from the Cancer Institute SEER Survival Mongraph.
Glioblastoma Multiforme Brain Tumor Survival Rate Following the Use of Dendritic Vaccine
The graph below compares the survival rate for patients who were treated for glioblastoma multiforme brain tumors with the dendritic vaccine developed at Cedars-Sinai with research results by the European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC). The EORTC Brain Tumour Group is an international, multidisciplinary group of neurosurgeons, neurologists, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists and basic scientist. It conducts, develops, coordinate and stimulates research on the treatment of primary and secondary brain tumors. To this end the BTG is fundamentally based on prospective studies.
