Babar Butt, Adnan Akbar, Aman-ur Rehman, Rizwan Masood Butt.
Community awareness level regarding brain tumours and reasons of delay in total diagnostic interval.
Pak J Neuro Surg Jan ;23(2):116-23.

Objectives: To determine the awareness in the Pakistani community regarding Brain tumors and exploring the reasons for the delay in Total Diagnostic Interval (TDI).Material and Methods: The methodology used to determine community level of awareness by anonyms, questionnaire based descriptive study. The duration of the study was 4 months and data was taken from the patients operated in Neurosurgery Unit I of Punjab Institute of Neuroscience (PINS).Results: A total of 102 patients were recorded, of which sixty five (63.7%) were male patients and thirty seven (36.2%) female patients. Immense delay was noted in getting the first basic radiological investigation, i.e., more than one year in 33 cases (32.35%) after the appearance of their first symptom. The study revealed that 46 cases (45.00%) got treatment from Quack, 38 cases (37.00%) from spiritual healer/Hakeems and 8 cases (07.00%) had homeopathic treatment. It was noted that 35 (34.30%) of the patients were unaware of their disease, and 67patients (65.00%) were aware of their disease. The awareness group revealed that 28 cases (27.45%) know about their disease, but reluctant to get surgery, while 30 cases (29.00%) were considered quacks treatment. Seventy five cases (73.52%) presented after 12 weeks of their initial symptom in our series.Conclusion: Awareness regarding brain tumors is insufficient that is resulting in delay of Total Diagnostic Interval, moreover the scenario was further complicated by adopting alternative methods of treatment like Hakeems/quacks/homeopathic and spiritual healers.

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