Dr Garth Funston and colleagues have won the 2020 Research Paper of the Year for Clinical Research, awarded by the Royal College of General Practitioners, for their paper on detecting cancer in primary care. The research shows that CA125, a simple blood test available in primary care, is useful for ovarian cancer detection in symptomatic […]
GP views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on cancer assessment in primary care: results from the CanImpact study
New evidence on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on GP assessment of patients who may have cancer indicates need for urgent action. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically influenced different aspects of patients’ cancer pathways, from diagnosis to treatment, mortality and survival. Implications are also likely early in the diagnostic pathway, from symptom presentation to […]
Artificial intelligence techniques could help with earlier diagnosis of cancer in primary care: a systematic review
Artificial Intelligence (AI) techniques can be applied to primary care data to facilitate the early diagnosis of cancer, according to the first international review of studies on this topic. Promising studies applied AI techniques to some elements of the electronic health record (EHR), but did not incorporate all of the available data. Some commercially developed […]
Biomarkers for the early detection of upper-gastrointestinal cancers in primary care: a systematic review
A new systematic review guided by the CanTest Framework found that while there is a large number of biomarkers being developed for the detection of upper GI cancers, more evidence from evaluations in low-prevalence populations like primary care is still needed before their adoption in clinical practice can be recommended. Cancers of the stomach, oesophagus, […]
Blood test predicts ovarian cancer better than previously thought
A blood test already available to GPs in the UK is more predictive of ovarian cancer than previously thought and could also help pick up other forms of cancer, according to new research published in PLOS Medicine and funded by Cancer Research UK and NIHR. This study was led by Dr Garth Funston at the […]
Current evidence on screening for renal cancer
Renal cell carcinoma (RCC) rates are increasing worldwide, with high mortality and a high proportion of patients asymptomatic at diagnosis – so should we be screening for RCC? Patients with kidney cancer, their caregivers and clinicians alike, define the study of early detection and treatment of RCC as one of their top research priorities. The […]