There are plenty of terms and acronyms in the medical field. Below, we have listed some that you may hear in relation to this study.
5-ALA 5-AminoLevulinic Acid – also known as the Pink Drink.
Blinded - A blinded clinical trial means that one or more parties are unaware of the treatment being received.
CI - Chief Investigator; this is the person who has designed, conducts, and is responsible for reporting the study.
CRF - Case Report Form; documents used in a trial to collect data from patients.
CTU - Clinical Trials Unit; a specialist unit that has been set up specifically to design, conduct, analyse, and publish clinical trials and studies.
DFS - Deterioration Free Survival
DTI - Diffusion Tensor Imaging. A refinement of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) that allows the doctor to measure the flow of water and track the pathways of white matter in the brain. DTI is able to detect abnormalities in the brain that do not show up on standard MRI scans.
EORTC - European Organisation for Research and Treatment of Cancer
GCP - Good Clinical Practice; it is the international ethical, scientific, and practical standard to which all clinical research is conducted.
GP - General Practitioner
GTR - Gross Total Resection, removal of all the tumour.
HRQoL - Health-Related Quality of Life
ICF - Informed Consent Form
IDEAL - The IDEAL Collaboration, an initiative to improve the quality of research in surgery and other complex interventions.
ITT - Intention To Treat
iUS - Intraoperative Ultrasound
MDT - Multi Disciplinary Team
MOCA - The Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a cognitive screening test designed to assist Health Professionals in the detection of mild cognitive impairment.
MRI - Magnetic Resonance Imaging. A special radiology technique which takes pictures of internal structures of the body using magnetism, radio waves, and a computer to produce the images of body structures
NDS - Nuffield Department of Surgical Sciences; a multi-disciplinary research department whose mission is to lead discovery, innovation and education in surgical sciences.
NIHR - National Institute for Health Research; this is the organisation that has funded this study.
NHS - National Health Service
NiUS - Navigated Intraoperative Ultrasound
OCTRU - Oxford Clinical Trials Research Unit.
OS - Overall Survival.
PFS - Progression Free Survival
PI - Principal Investigator; the person delegated responsible for the leadership and conduct of a research study at their site (hospital).
PIL/PIS - Participant/Patient Information Leaflet or Participant/Patient Information Sheet
PPI - Patient and Public Involvement; a PPI Representative usually is someone who has had either personal experience of the health condition being studied, or someone not involved with the trial design, so as to provide a different perspective, that can help with the enrolment of participants and retaining participants until the trial has finished.
Protocol - A document that describes how a clinical trial will be conducted and ensures the safety of the trial subjects and integrity of the data collected.
QLQ - Quality of Life Questionnaire
QLQ-BN20 - Quality of Life Questionnaire Brain
QLQ-C30 - Quality of Life Questionnaire Cancer
QoL - Quality of Life
Randomisation - A process of allocating patients to the different treatment arms we are assessing in this study. It is the best way of ensuring that the results of trials are not biased by the way participants are selected.
SITU - Surgical Intervention Trials Unit. The administrative unit running this study.
TMZ - Temozolomide, a medication used to treat some brain tumours
UKCRC - United Kingdom Clinical Research Collaboration.
US - Ultrasound
