BMJ  2007;334:1013-1014 (19 May), doi:10.1136/bmj.39212.467037.BE

Editorials

Alarm symptoms in primary care

These greatly increase the risk of cancer, but the diagnosis is still rare

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

A new diagnosis of cancer is rare in primary care, and the role of general practitioners (GPs) in diagnosing cancer can be challenging. In the United Kingdom, a GP with a list size of 1500 will on average see only 1.39 cases of lung cancer, 0.23 oesophageal cancers, 0.99 colorectal cancers, and 0.45 renal or bladder cancers each year.¹ We seek to diagnose the few patients with cancer out of the many who are concerned about it or who have non-specific problems. In this week's BMJ, a cohort study by Jones and colleagues assesses the association between alarm symptoms and a subsequent diagnosis of cancer in just under 800 325 patients in primary care.²

Diagnostic errors are one of the leading causes of medicolegal claims against GPs,³ and they can damage the faith of our patients. However, we have a role as gatekeepers of health resources and more recently . . . [Full text of this article]

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Alarm symptoms in primary care

Walford Gillison
bmj.com, 1 Jun 2007 [Full text]