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Chapman D, Poirier V, Fitzgerald K, et al. Non-specific symptoms-based pathways for diagnosing less common cancers in primary care: a service evaluation. Br J Gen Pract. 2021;71(712):e846-e853doi: 10.3399/BJGP.2020.1108.
Chapman, D., Poirier, V., Fitzgerald, K., Nicholson, B. D., Hamilton, W. (2021). Non-specific symptoms-based pathways for diagnosing less common cancers in primary care: a service evaluation. The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners, 71(712), e846-e853. https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2020.1108
Chapman, Dave, et al. "Non-specific symptoms-based pathways for diagnosing less common cancers in primary care: a service evaluation." The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners vol. 71,712 (2021): e846-e853. doi: https://doi.org/10.3399/BJGP.2020.1108
Chapman D, Poirier V, Fitzgerald K, Nicholson BD, Hamilton W. Non-specific symptoms-based pathways for diagnosing less common cancers in primary care: a service evaluation. Br J Gen Pract. 2021 Oct 28;71(712):e846-e853. doi: 10.3399/BJGP.2020.1108. Print 2021 Nov. PMID: 34097639; PMCID: PMC8463131.
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Br J Gen Pract. 2021 Oct 28;71(712):e846-e853. doi: 10.3399/BJGP.2020.1108. Print 2021 Nov.

Non-specific symptoms-based pathways for diagnosing less common cancers in primary care: a service evaluation.

The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners

Dave Chapman, Veronique Poirier, Karen Fitzgerald, Brian D Nicholson, Willie Hamilton,

Affiliations

  1. Cancer Research UK, London.
  2. Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, University of Oxford, Oxford.
  3. College of Medicine and Health, University of Exeter Medical School, Exeter.

PMID: 34097639 PMCID: PMC8463131 DOI: 10.3399/BJGP.2020.1108

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Although less common cancers account for almost half of all cancer diagnoses in England, their relative scarcity and complex presentation, often with non-specific symptoms, means that patients often experience multiple primary care consultations, long times to diagnosis, and poor clinical outcomes. An urgent referral pathway for non-specific symptoms, the Multidisciplinary Diagnostic Centre (MDC), may address this problem.

AIM: To examine the less common cancers identified during the MDC pilots and consider whether such an approach improves the diagnosis of these cancers.

DESIGN AND SETTING: A service evaluation of five MDC pilot projects in England from December 2016 to March 2019.

METHOD: Data items were collected by pilot sites in near-real time, based mainly on the English cancer outcomes and services dataset, with additional project-specific items. Simple descriptive and comparative statistics were used, including χ

RESULTS: From 5134 referrals, 378 cancers were diagnosed, of which 218 (58%) were less common. More than 30 different less common tumour types were diagnosed in this cohort. Of the MDC patients with less common cancers, 23% (

CONCLUSION: A non-specific symptomatic referral route diagnoses a broad range of less common cancers, and can support primary care case management for patients with symptoms of possible cancer that do not qualify for a site-specific urgent referral.

© The Authors.

Keywords: Multidisciplinary Diagnostic Centre; less common cancers; neoplasms; non-specific symptoms; primary health care; referral

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