Evidence for a delay in diagnosis of Wilms' tumour in the UK compared with Germany: implications for primary care for children.

ABSTRACT: The UK has a longstanding system of general practice which provides the vast majority of primary care, including that for children. It acts as a 'gatekeeper' to more specialist care. Parents may also use accident and emergency departments as their first point of medical contact for their children. Outcomes in the UK for many conditions in children appear to be worse than in comparable European countries where there is direct access to care by paediatricians. We have therefore looked at pathways to diagnosis and compared outcomes in the childhood kidney cancer, Wilms' tumour, which has been treated in the UK and Germany within the same clinical trial for over a decade. We find that Wilms' tumours are significantly larger in volume and have a more advanced tumour stage at diagnosis in the UK

SUBMITTER: Pritchard-Jones K 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4862069 | biostudies-literature | 2016 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature