HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS REGISTER		Author Keyword(s) Vol Page [Advanced]

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Submit a response Alert me when this article is cited Alert me when eLetters are posted Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this link to a friend Similar articles in this journal Add article to my folders Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Search for Related Content

More endoscopists improve outcome for upper GI cancer

More endoscopists may be the answer to better outcomes for upper gastrointestinal (GI) cancer, as recent improvement seems to owe more to the introduction of nurse endoscopists than the UK government’s two week wait scheme for a specialist consultation, according to doctors in one cancer unit.

True enough, the odds of curative resection increased significantly (odds ratio 1.48) in their unit in the two years after the scheme was introduced compared with the two years before, and curative resections for early (stage 1 and 2) cancers rose from 47 to 58. But only two patients (5%) of 38 diagnosed with the cancer out of 623 referred under the scheme had early stage disease compared with 56 (27%) outside it. Furthermore, just over a third of patients with early stage cancer had symptoms consistent with the referral criteria in the scheme, but only two of them were referred under it.

When . . . [Full text of this article]