New paper published that looks at diagnosis challenges for rarer cancers

A new study, published today (26 February) looks at the challenges of timely diagnosis for people with rarer cancers.

Authored by Silvia Mendonca, Gary Abel and Georgios Lyratzopoulos the paper is published in the British Journal of General Practice. Dr Lyratzopoulos, MD, FFPH, FRCP, MPH, DTM&H is Cancer Research UK Clinician Scientist Fellow & Reader in Cancer Epidemiology at University College London.

The paper aims to raise awareness of how challenging it can be to appropriately suspect the diagnosis of cancer and to provide researchers and research funding bodies with the evidence necessary to support research and initiatives to improve the timeliness of diagnosis.

The research is based on an analysis of more than 95,500 patients who responded to the Cancer Patient Experience survey, of whom more than 7,800 had one of 12 rarer cancers without prior evidence on pre­diagnostic consultations.