Elsevier

Respiratory Medicine

Volume 101, Issue 6, June 2007, Pages 1251-1257
Respiratory Medicine

Delays in the diagnostic pathways for primary pulmonary carcinoma in Southern Norway

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rmed.2006.10.021Get rights and content
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Summary

Background

This study intends to evaluate the delays in the diagnostic pathways for primary lung cancer in Southern Norway, and to compare results with recommendations from the British Thoracic Society (BTS) and the Swedish Lung Cancer Group (SLCG).

Design

A questionnaire-based prospective study of all patients diagnosed with primary lung cancer in Southern Norway from June14, 2002 to June 13, 2005.

Results

Half of the 479 patients were referred to a specialist in pulmonology within 3 weeks (median) of first seeing their doctor concerning symptoms of malignant pulmonary disease. 71% of patients were seen by pulmonologist within 1 week of received referral, and not 100% as proposed by the BTS. 52% of the patients were diagnosed and informed of their disease within 2 weeks (BTS recommend 100%) of having received the referral letter, and 68% within 3 weeks (SLCG recommend 80%). 62% started treatment within 1 month of first contact with pulmonologist (SLCG 80%).

Conclusion

The delays in diagnosing lung cancer in the Agder region were within BTS and Swedish recommendations in 52–71% of cases. Although our results show good standings compared to other studies, the potential improvements for both the referring GP and the specialist investigators are discussed.

Keywords

Diagnostic process
Doctor's delay
Lung cancer
Primary pulmonary carcinoma

Cited by (0)

HR and FG contributed to the planning and conduction of the study, the analysis and interpretation of the data, and writing the paper. PSB contributed to the analysis and interpretation of the data, and writing the paper. The study was approved by the regional ethics committee. All patients gave informed consent.

1

Sorlandet Sykehus HF, 4604 Kristiansand, Norway.