BMJ 1996;312:1417 (1 June)

Letters

Adjuvant treatment for colorectal cancer

Reducing avoidable delays in establishing the diagnosis is also important

EDITOR,--In patients with colorectal cancer,1 any measures that reduce the delay to diagnosis should, hopefully, improve surgical cure rates and reduce the need for adjuvant treatment. There is good evidence from studies2 3 and from epidemiological publications4 to suggest that better application of proved methodologies would improve the detection of colorectal cancer at an early and more favourable stage.

We recently completed a study of the diagnostic delays for all colorectal cancers presenting to our institution in 1993. Ninety three new colorectal cancers were diagnosed during the year. Seventeen patients presented as emergencies. When these patients were excluded the median delays were: time from onset of symptoms to presentation to the general practitioner, 60 days; from dispatch of letter to hospital review, 16 days; and from hospital review to histological confirmation, 15 days. Diagnosis was established at rigid sigmoidoscopy performed at . . . [Full text of this article]


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Relevant Article

Adjuvant treatment for colorectal cancer
Maurice L Slevin
BMJ 1996 312: 392-393. [Extract] [Full Text]

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