Interdisciplinary Approaches to Survivorship with a Focus on the Low-grade and Benign Brain Tumor Populations

Abstract

Purpose of review: "Brain tumor is a bump in the road." Sheryl Crow a famous singer was quoted talking about her meningioma, a benign brain tumor that caused her to forget her lyrics. In this review, we focus on low-grade gliomas in adults and benign brain tumors, such as meningiomas, vestibular schwannomas, and pituitary tumors, since these individuals survive a long time and morbidity is a major issue.

Recent findings: As per the NCI dictionary definition, cancer survivorship focuses on the health and well-being of a person with cancer from the time of diagnosis until the end of life. This includes the physical, mental, emotional, social, and financial effects of cancer that begin at diagnosis and continue through treatment and beyond. The survivorship experience also includes issues related to follow-up care (including regular health and wellness checkups), late effects of treatment, cancer recurrence, second cancers, and quality of life. Family members, friends, and caregivers are also considered part of the survivorship experience (NCI Dictionary: https://www.cancer.gov/publications/dictionaries/cancer-terms ).

Keywords: Low-grade gliomas; Meningiomas; Pituitary tumors; Survivorship; Vestibular schwannomas.

Fig. 1

Timing of survivorship and supportive services for the brain tumor patient. Ideally, patients should be connected to the clinic at the beginning of their diagnosis, and the frequency of visits depends on the complexity of their underlying conditions

Fig. 2

Summarizing the harmony needed for survivorship to operate efficiently