Diagnostic Timing and Ovarian Cancer Survival
Common wisdom has it that the shorter the time before diagnosis of ovarian cancer, the better the outcome. This retrospective survey using data from the UNC cancer registry looked at the interval before diagnosis and compared the outcome of overall survival.
2309 women were included in the survey, the median delay in diagnosis was 33 days after investigation of a relevant presenting symptom. The group was divided into three according to the delay in diagnosis, early with intervals of less than 10 days, a standard group with a median delay of 80 days, and a delayed group whose diagnosis was delayed by more than 120 days.
Results from the survey showed that the early diagnosis and the late diagnosis groups had significantly worse survival outcomes. This finding appears counterintuitive in that the expectation is that a shorter diagnosis delay would result in smaller more confined disease. However, the authors suggest that many of those women diagnosed early may have more aggressive cancer and be sicker.
As in many aspects of ovarian cancer this study demonstrates the complexity of the management dilemma. It has been thought that applying scarce resources to enable early diagnosis would always improve cancer survival. Unfortunately, the study shows this to be debatable. However, it is still important to avoid a long delay before diagnosis which does shorten survival.
No comments:
Post a Comment