Lu, M. Di (My) (2017) Veranderingen in verwijzingspatronen van patiënten met een oncologische aandoening in de mond- en keelholte en de speekselklieren. thesis, Dentistry.
Full text available on request.Abstract
Each year, approximately 3000 people in the Netherlands are diagnosed with a malignancy in the head and neck area. The majority of the population is represented by men. However, it is to be expected that women will slowly become a bigger part of this population. Because an early diagnosis of malignancies increases the chance of curation, it is important to analyze the period of time between the appearance of the first symptoms and start of treatment. Total delay can be divided into patients delay and doctors delay. Patients delay can be described as the time that passes between noticing the first symptoms and the first physician consultation. Doctors delay is defined as the period of time between the first consultation and start of the treatment of the malignancy. In 2010, a study on patients and doctors delay of new patients of the Head and Neck Oncological Center of the Universitair Medisch Centrum Groningen (UMCG) has been executed. Since then, social awareness of cancer has increased. Also, the general healthcare system, as well as the care of patients with a malignancy in the head and neck area, have been modified. The aim of this study was to search for changes in patients and doctors delay since 2010, possibly due to the changes in health care and social awareness. We have repeated the previous study and compared the outcomes of both studies. We expected patients and doctors delay to be shorter in 2016. Information on patient and tumor characteristics, noticed symptoms and visited physicians was gathered using questionnaires and the electronic patients charts. Similar information had been retrieved in the 2010 study and this data was available to us, which allowed us to compare both studies. This study shows that there is no significant difference in patients and doctors delay compared to 2010. In 2010, patients delay was 48 days opposed to 38 days in 2016. Doctors delay counted 51 days in 2010 and 61 in 2016. There does seem to be an increase in doctors delay at the Center of Head and Neck Cancer of 7 days (p=0.001). This is probably due to more accurate, but also more time consuming diagnostic and treatment planning tools. Tumor size differs significantly between the two studies (p=0.001): in 2010 59% of the patients had a T1-tumor opposed to 22% in 2016. In 2016 the majority of the patients (41%) was dealing with a T4-tumor, opposed to 7% in 2010. To be able to find a trend in the path that leads patients with a malignancy in the head and neck area to diagnosis and treatment, multiple measuring moments should be executed. Therefore further research is needed.
| Item Type: | Thesis (UNSPECIFIED) |
|---|---|
| Supervisor name: | Roodenburg, prof. dr. J.L.N. and Haring, drs. I.S. van der and Dijk, dr. B.A.C. van |
| Faculty: | Medical Sciences |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Nov 2021 13:10 |
| Last Modified: | 23 Nov 2021 12:25 |
| URI: | https://umcg.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/2805 |
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