About the trial | FUTURE-GB

Functional and Ultrasound Guided Resection of Glioblastoma

BACKGROUND

There are many different types of brain tumours. These can vary in how quickly they grow and what symptoms they cause. Glioblastoma (GB) is the most common primary brain tumour and is incurable. It grows very quickly from the brain tissue itself, rather than from a cancer elsewhere in the body.

For a brain tumour that grows quickly it is important to remove as much tumour tissue as possible. To do this without causing damage to important functional parts of the brain involved in speaking, moving etc., we need accurate imaging during surgery. Several different types of imaging are used during operations, but at present, we don’t know how good they are and whether they are actually better than standard care.

PURPOSE OF THE TRIAL

We have been funded by the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) which receives funding from the UK Government to find out whether some of these additional imaging tools available make a positive difference to quality of life for people with fast-growing brain tumours who have surgery.

We will also be looking to see if these imaging tools used during an operation mean people with a brain tumour:

have a better quality of life;
if it takes more/less time for their tumour to come back;
if they have more/fewer complications from the surgery.

This study will attempt to give a definite answer, so that surgeons know which imaging tools they should use during an operation to enable as much tumour as possible to be removed safely, whilst minimising the risks of damaging brain function and hence affecting quality of life.

The imaging tools that will be used in this study are available and in use across the NHS, and have been shown to be safe. However, no one knows if using them together will have a definite positive effect on outcome for those with a brain tumour.

HOW THE TRIAL WORKS

FUTURE-GB is a 2-Stage trial:

The first stage is an IDEAL Stage 2b cohort study. Each site will recruit ~3 participants who will all receive the additional imaging before and during their surgeries, participants will not be randomised in this stage. The clinicians will then be able to standardise the use of the tools and share their knowledge across each of the recruiting sites. More information about the IDEAL Collaboration and FUTURE-GB can be found here.

Stage 2 is a prospective, multicentre randomised controlled trial aiming to recruit 357 patients over 27 months, randomising patients to standard care or to standard care plus additional imaging.