are patients open to elective resampling of their glioblastoma a new way of assessing treatment innovations background this is a qualitative study designed to examine patient acceptability of resampling surgery for glioblastoma multiforme gbm electively posttherapy or at asymptomatic relapsemethods thirty patients were selected using the convenience sampling method and interviewed patients were presented with hypothetical scenarios including a scenario in which the surgery was offered to them routinely and a scenario in which the surgery was in a clinical trialresults the results of the study suggest that about two thirds of the patients offered the surgery on a routine basis would be interested and half of the patients would agree to the surgery as part of a clinical trial several overarching themes emerged some of which include patients expressed ethical concerns about offering financial incentives or compensation to the patients or surgeons involved in the study patients were concerned about appropriate communication and full disclosure about the procedures involved the legalities of tumor ownership and the use of the tumor postsurgery patients may feel alone or vulnerable when they are approached about the surgery patients and their families expressed immense trust in their surgeon and indicated that this trust is a major determinant of their agreeing to surgeryconclusion the overall positive response to resampling surgery suggests that this procedure if designed with all the ethical concerns attended to would be welcomed by most patients this approach of asking patients beforehand if a treatment innovation is acceptable would appear to be more practical and ethically desirable than previous practice