Brain tumour diagnostic intervals
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Describing the brain tumour diagnostic pathway and patient-related diagnostic intervals
IRAS ID
218047
Contact name
Paul Brennan
Contact email
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 5 months, 31 days
Research summary
It is now well established that cancer survival in the United Kingdom is lower compared with much of Western Europe. Previous research on cancer survival has identified a number of factors contributing to these international variations: a) stage at diagnosis and quality of treatment, b) delay in diagnosis and treatment, c) treatment differences, including coordination and organisation of treatment, d) patient factors, and e) tumour and physiological factors.
One of the major reasons is that patients in the UK are diagnosed when their cancer is at a more advanced stage. Evidence suggests that the greatest delay is in patient presentation to their primary care doctor and in referral from primary care for definitive investigations. Research on the issue is however confounded by factors such as differing definitions of delay across studies, or data collection that is retrospective in nature and incomplete.
The aim of our study is to characterise the time from first onset of symptoms to diagnosis (the diagnostic interval) for adult patients with brain tumour referred to a tertiary neuro-oncology centre in South East Scotland. We will analyse hospital records of patients diagnosed with a brain tumour in South-East Scotland over an 8-year period. We will also require to contact patient's primary care teams to clarify their clinical symptoms and management prior to referral for hospital assessment. We will use this data to identify whether there are groups of symptoms that might help doctors diagnose brain tumours earlier.
It is becoming increasingly acknowledged that attempts to reduce diagnostic delays may improve cancer related outcomes. Our research will contribute to this goal.
REC name
South East Scotland REC 02
REC reference
17/SS/0019
Date of REC Opinion
21 Mar 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion