DT News - UK - Mouth cancer patients wait longer to see doctor

Dental Tribune International

Mon. 17 February 2014

save

CAMBRIDGE, UK: Patients with mouth cancer wait for around one month after first spotting symptoms before visiting their general practitioner; those with oesophageal cancer wait for about three weeks. These findings were documented by a new study conducted in the UK, suggesting that awareness of oral cancer symptoms among the public needs to be raised.

In order to investigate the variation in patient intervals, namely the number of days from first symptom onset to first presentation to a general practitioner, the researchers conducted a secondary analysis of data from the National Audit of Cancer Diagnosis in Primary Care (2009–2010), which included information from patient records on various aspects of the diagnostic process at about 1,170 general practices in England. In total, the study included 10,297 patients diagnosed with one of 18 cancers, including oesophageal and oropharyngeal cancer.

The researchers observed that overall patients consulted a general practitioner ten days after noticing symptoms. The study also found that prompt presentation was most frequent among patients with bladder and renal cancer, but the least frequent among oropharyngeal and oesophageal cancer patients. The latter group waited for three to four weeks before visiting a general practitioner, while the first group waited only two to three days before reporting their symptoms. Some patients waited for up to 90–180 days.

The findings indicate that lack of awareness of the symptoms of mouth and oesophageal cancer may result in people waiting longer to consult their general practitioner compared with other types of cancer. “Difficulty swallowing and ulcers that do not heal, two key symptoms for these cancers, are the least well-known by the public for their links with cancer,” said Dr Georgios Lyratzopoulos, principal investigator at the University of Cambridge, where the study was conducted.

The study, titled “Variation in promptness of presentation among 10,297 patients subsequently diagnosed with one of 18 cancers: Evidence from a national audit of cancer diagnosis in primary care”, was published online in 11 February in the International Journal of Cancer ahead of print.

To post a reply please login or register

Mouth Cancer Action Month about to go viral

RUGBY, UK: In summer, people around the world poured a bucket of ice-cold water over their heads as part of a campaign initiated by the ALS (amyotrophic ...

Mouth Cancer Action Month: How to get involved

LONDON, UK: General awareness of mouth cancer in the UK remains dangerously low, despite more than 7,500 people being diagnosed with mouth cancer annually. ...

Dental professionals urged to support Mouth Cancer Action Month 2018

LONDON, UK: The Oral Health Foundation has called on dental and health professionals to raise awareness of mouth, or oral, cancer and communicate the ...

UK dental patients want to talk more

CHESHAM – A significant number of dental patients in the UK would welcome the opportunity to spend more time talking to their dentist about available ...

UK dentist fails to spot mouth cancer, supervision instructed

KILMARNOCK – A dentist from Scotland has been placed under one-year supervision after failing to identify a cancerous ulcer in the mouth of a patient....

New report urges greater awareness about mouth cancer

LONDON, England: A new report published by the Oral Health Foundation has highlighted some concerning figures surrounding both the prevalence of mouth ...

Charity team will conquer mountain to fundraise for mouth cancer

RUGBY, UK: A charity team is set to tackle the daunting Striding Edge challenge to raise money and help continue the fight against mouth cancer in the UK. ...

Elvis tooth on display to promote mouth cancer awareness in UK

LONDON – In order to encourage patients to undergo free mouth cancer screening, a number of dentists across the UK will be displaying a dental crown ...

Interview: “Mouth cancer is a growing problem”

With oral cancer rates continuing to increase worldwide, it has become clear that more needs to be done to raise awareness and combat this issue. Dental ...

European CanCer Organisation resolves to target HPV-related cancers

BRUSSELS, Belgium/RUGBY, UK: At the recent 2019 European Cancer Summit of the European CanCer Organisation (ECCO), the ECCO Oncopolicy Committee agreed on a...

Education

On-demand
webinar