GBM needs a GPS.

Maps are drawn by those with particular experience and/or expertise with an area so that complete novices can navigate their ways as easily as possible. If you think about it, this idea holds true with many aspects of cancer--particularly end-of-life care. We as oncologists understand all too well the uniformly poor prognosis of a diagnosis such as glioblastoma multiforme (GBM). The trouble is patients don’t. A recent essay in JAMA Oncology is particularly powerful in that the author is herself the wife of a GBM patient blindsided by his rapid decline. It’s worth the short read, but we’ll summarize with her call for a GBM road map. There is already a so-called “road map” for Alzheimer’s disease, and we think Fareed Zakaria would agree--it’s time for us to do the same for GBM and other diseases we know to be uniquely and assuredly tolling on both patients and caregivers.