Background and aims: Clinical practice guidelines for rehabilitation in musculoskeletal oncology are lacking. Guidelines should include recommendation statements aimed at optimising care to enhance recovery and quality of life. The project aim was to provide a foundation of best practice based upon expert consensus and evidence.
Design: Consensus-based guidelines supported by systematic literature search.
Methods: This was a consensus-based guideline developed with the support of the British Sarcoma Group (BSG). A group of national rehabilitation experts working within bone or soft tissue sarcoma centres across the UK met from December 2019. Evidence was gathered from a narrative literature review. Recommendations were developed with a variety of stakeholders to achieve consensus.
Results: During the face to face consultation event and literature review seven themes were identified which should guide rehabilitation: (1) access to specialist Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) for treatment; (2) documented referral pathway for specialist AHP care; (3) assessment of individual issues, personal and multi-dimensional (holistic) needs; (4) patient centred care; (5) evidence-based rehabilitation treatment; (6) effective communication and provision of information; (7) patient support through access to other services.
Conclusions: Development of consensus-based, evidence-informed rehabilitation guidelines for those treated for primary malignant musculoskeletal tumours, provides rationale and evidence-based recommendations.
Keywords: Sarcoma; guidelines; physiotherapy; rehabilitation; surgery.
Those undergoing limb surgery following a diagnosis of sarcoma should have access to specialised Allied Health Professionals (AHPs) from the point of diagnosis until the long-term to optimise functional outcomes and patient experience.Specialist centres and local rehabilitation professionals need to work collaboratively to ensure optimal outcomes following treatment for the management of sarcoma.Allied Health Professionals need to embrace holistic individualised assessment and person centred approaches to rehabilitation.Although rehabilitation is essential in the early post-treatment phase, it remains important through the pathway to address late effects of treatment and to end of life.