British journal of cancer
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British journal of cancer · Mar 2015
The relative length of the patient and the primary care interval in patients with 28 common and rarer cancers.
Appreciating variation in the length of pre- or post-presentation diagnostic intervals can help prioritise early diagnosis interventions with either a community or a primary care focus. ⋯ The findings support the continuing development and evaluation of public health interventions aimed at shortening patient intervals, particularly for cancers with long patient interval and/or high patient interval over primary care interval ratio.
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British journal of cancer · Mar 2015
A differentiated approach to referrals from general practice to support early cancer diagnosis - the Danish three-legged strategy.
When aiming to provide more expedited cancer diagnosis and treatment of cancer at an earlier stage, it is important to take into account the symptom epidemiology throughout the pathway, from first bodily sensation until the start of cancer treatment. This has implications for how primary-care providers interpret the presentation and decisions around patient management and investigation. ⋯ The organisation of the health-care system must reflect the reality of symptoms presented in primary care. The organisational change is evaluated and monitored with a comprehensive research agenda, data infrastructure and education.
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Stage at diagnosis is a key predictor of overall cancer outcome. For the first time, stage completeness is high enough for robust analysis for the whole of England. ⋯ Further reductions in mortality may be most effectively achieved by diagnosing all cancers before they progress to stage 4, but for lung and ovarian cancers there is also a need for a stage shift to earlier stages together with efforts to improve stage-specific survival at all stages.
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British journal of cancer · Mar 2015
Complications following surgery with or without radiotherapy or radiotherapy alone for prostate cancer.
Men undergoing treatment of clinically localised prostate cancer may experience a number of treatment-related complications, which affect their quality of life. ⋯ In patients treated for prostate cancer, radiation after surgery increases the rate of complications compared with surgery alone, though these rates remain lower than patients treated with radiation alone. This information may inform patient and physician decision making in the treatment of prostate cancer.