Article
Neuro-oncological certification by DKG (German Cancer Society) – is it worth time and effort? 5-year experiences of a certified regional non-university centre
Neuroonkologische DKG (Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft)-Zertifizierung – lohnt sich der Aufwand? 5-jährige Erfahrungen eines zertifizierten, regionalen, nicht-universitären Zentrums
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Authors
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Martin Bettag
- Krankenhaus der Barmherzigen Brüder Trier, Neurosurgery, Trier, Deutschland
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Markus Mehlitz
- Krankenhaus der Barmherzigen Brüder Trier, Neurosurgery, Trier, Deutschland
| Published: | June 4, 2021 |
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Outline
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Objective: We analysed our 5 years experiences with a DKG - certified regional non-university neuro-oncological centre (NOC) to find out whether the support of extra personnel, costs and time will justify the effects of NOC regarding quantitative and qualitative data.
Methods: From 2014-2019, we systematically evaluated the number of all neuro-oncological cases, the percentage of cases presented and discussed in the weekly interdisciplinary brain tumor board, the percentage of psycho-oncological and of socio-medical care, the percentage of patients enrolled into clinical trials, the number of brain tumor operations and biopsies as well as their complication rates. Baseline was the numbers in 2014 compared with the data in 2019 (audit 2019, key numbers 2018).
Results: Cases presented in the weekly interdisciplinary brain tumor board raised by 15,1%. Psycho-oncological cases raised by 66,6%, socio-medical cases by 9,6%. The number of patients enrolled into clinical studies decreased by 41,3%. The number of brain tumor operations raised by 16,3%. Infection rate was reduced by 82,0%, postoperative clinically relevant hemorrhage by 17,3% and revision surgery by 67,1%.
Conclusion: So far, NOC has resulted in improvement of qualitative and quantitative data concerning number and results of neuro-oncological patients. In our opinion, this justifies the required extra personnel for documentation, costs for the certification procedures and time investment of the neuro-oncological staff even in a regional non-university NOC. For non-university NOCs, participation in clinical studies is still difficult.
