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

Dental Tribune International

Mon. 17 February 2014

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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.

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