Academic Primary Care | Cancer Diagnosis | Lung Cancer | Health Policy | Health Inequalities | Open Science
Great to see Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation recommendations on improving symptomatic lung cancer diagnosis featured in The Guardian, The Times, The Telegraph and BBC News R4's World at One on 27th Dec. The recommendations are published in British Journal of General Practice: https://lnkd.in/esuPCMj5 Free to access: https://osf.io/qbh2p Lung Cancer screening for high risk (asymptomatic) people is on the way, but for some time to come most people will continue to be diagnosed because of symptoms. The media coverage highlighted call to enable more patients with possible lung cancer symptoms to arrange tests like chest x-ray, but other issues considered included calls to: - Raise and maintain awareness of symptoms, including amongst those who have not smoked if persistent symptoms (who have a low risk, but non-smokers account for 10-15% of cases) - Open up data on chest x-ray use by General Practices to help understand how often these tests are being used - Get greater clarity for GPs on when to use direct access CT Authored by team including: David Baldwin Georgia Black Dr Sam Merriel Mike Richards Judit Konya Richard Lee Neal Navani Ben Noble Amelia Randle Janette Rawlinson Nick Woznitza MBE Emma O'Dowd
OncoDaily
7mo
We would like to inform you that your post has been published on OncoDaily. Thank you for sharing. https://oncodaily.com/blog/216839
Congratulations Steve and colleagues for the great report
Georgina Wright
7mo
Great work for the ongoing momentum of CXR for early lung cancer identification Stephen Bradley 👍
Thank you Stephen Bradley,Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation and team for hard work on this after the earlier expert workshop that discussed many elements of the most appropriate investigations/treatments for symptomatic patients to ensure not overshadowed by introduction of screening as these are often different populations. As the fire brigade found for years, prevention, education, nipping issues in the bud doesn't remove the need for swift action to put fires out. If symptoms suggest further investigation, including imaging they should be conducted swiftly, irrespective of smoking history or age. Concerns re radiation exposure/cost pale into insignificance compared to the devastating late diagnosis in those who may have been detected sooner. Too many cases of patients not fitting an outdated LC patient profile (70s, manual trade/smoking' background) result in later diagnosis. Everyone should recognise that anyone can develop lung cancer and act accordingly. As protocols for symptomatic patients exist, these need to be better understood by primary care, practice nurses and pharmacies. Whilst welcome, the onus shouldn't fall on patients to request tests -many seek help from medical experts yet are dismissed/misdiagnosed.