THURSDAY, July 12 (HealthDay News) -- There are a number of reasons for delays in the diagnosis and treatment of childhood cancer, including misinterpretation of ambiguous symptoms by patients, parents and physicians, according to a review published online July 9 in Cancer.
Tam Dang-Tan, M.Sc., and Eduardo Franco, Dr.PH., of McGill University in Montreal, Canada, searched for epidemiology studies from 1976 to April 15, 2007 in MedLine and PubMed. They extracted data on diagnostic delays in pediatric cancer cases from medical charts, tumor registries and interviews with parents in the United States and other countries.
The researchers identified 23 studies and found the mean treatment delay times varied from a low of 2.5 weeks for nephroblastoma to a high of 29.3 weeks for a brain tumor. The range was anywhere from zero to 200 weeks or more, depending on the study. Treatment delays tended to be less likely in younger children, those with fast-growing tumors and in patients who had access to knowledgeable providers. Treatment delays were affected by anatomical site as well as the parent's level of education.
"Once patients enter the healthcare system, diagnosis delay may be influenced by access to medical care services, knowledge and recognition of the disease by health providers, and availability of appropriate diagnostic capability and instrumentation," the authors write. "It is difficult to interpret physicians' ability to diagnose cancer."
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