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A register study has investigated what happened to those who were cleared of cancer in the first reference to cancer patient pathways. The study suggests that every 20th cancer case is not detected in the first cancer patient pathway.
2018.02.13 |
Standardized cancer patient pathways have led to faster diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients in Denmark. However, it may be difficult for the GP to identify the patients who might have cancer as half of cancer patients present a variety of non-specific symptoms that may be caused by many different types of cancer. Although most cancer patients go through at least one cancer patient pathway before diagnosis, it is unclear how many patients undergo several cancer patient pathways.
This study investigated what happened to people who were cleared of cancer in their first cancer patient pathway. The results show that 6% underwent a new cancer patient pathway within 6 months after they completed the first one. Many of these new cancer patient pathways were in the same anatomical field as the first cancer patient pathway, and this was particuarly the case for cancer patient pathways in the gastrointestinal area. The study also showed that 0.6% received a cancer diagnosis during the first 6 months after they completed of the first cancer patient pathway. In addition, the study showed that if the patient was referred to a new cancer patient pathway, the risk of cancer was slightly above 4%. The results of the study therefore suggest that some cancer cases are not detected in the first cancer patient pathway.