Evaluating a Cancer of Unknown Primary servive
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Evaluating the Primary Investigation Service at Chesterfield Royal Hospital. Do demographics and performance status predict outcome in this population?
IRAS ID
160787
Contact name
David Brooks
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Chesterfield Royal Hospital NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 3 months, 28 days
Research summary
In July 2010, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) developed the guidelines for the diagnosis and management of Metastatic Malignant disease of Unknown Primary (MUO), the fourth most common cause of cancer death in the United Kingdom. Until these guidelines were published those who were diagnosed with the disease often suffered extensive investigations and delayed treatment as they did not fall within any of the other established cancer diagnostic pathways.
At Chesterfield Royal Hospital the service was created in 2010 and is led by the Palliative care team. It sees around 80 patients a year and annual audit has confirmed the trend to poor health at presentation, multiple symptoms and limited prognosis. Early input from the palliative care team is therefore extremely pertinent. All those seen by the team had anonymised information collected for annual audit. Collectively they now form a fairly substantial data set that may be useful to those in the process of setting up or establishing new services.
This projects aim is to analyse the demographics and pathway of the last three years’ worth of patient audit data and share this information with a wider audience.
The primary objective is to determine the age, sex and performance status of those referred. Secondary objectives are the comparison of numbers receiving tumour directed therapy versus best supportive care; the comparison of number of site specific cancer diagnoses made versus the diagnosis of unknown primary origin and the comparison of place of death versus the national average.
Descriptive statistics (mean and median) will be used to define the demographics, treatment outcomes and prognosis of those referred.REC name
East of England - Cambridge South Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
15/EE/0024
Date of REC Opinion
15 Jan 2015
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion