Anders B Roennegaard1, Tine Rosenberg2, Kristine Bjørndal1, Jens Ahm Sørensen3, Jørgen Johansen4, Christian Godballe1. 1. Department of ORL-Head & Neck Surgery, Odense University Hospital, J. B. Winsløws Vej 4, 5000 Odense C, Denmark. 2. Department of ORL-Head & Neck Surgery, Odense University Hospital, J. B. Winsløws Vej 4, 5000 Odense C, Denmark. Electronic address: tine.rosenberg@rsyd.dk. 3. Department of Plastic Surgery, Odense University Hospital, J. B. Winsløws Vej 4, 5000 Odense C, Denmark. 4. Department of Oncology, Odense University Hospital, J. B. Winsløws Vej 4, 5000 Odense C, Denmark.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: During the 1990s, all Nordic countries except for Denmark experienced a general increase in 5-year survival rates for cancer patients. In 2007, the Danish National Board of Health in collaboration with national multidisciplinary cancer groups and the Danish regions initiated fast-track clinical pathway solutions. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were 1) to present the setup of the head and neck cancer (HNC) fast-track program at Odense University Hospital (OUH) as an example of the Danish model and 2) to present patient characteristics, diagnostic outcome, cancer detection rate, and duration of the fast-track patient courses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 1st July 2012 to 1st September 2015, all patients referred to the HNC fast-track program at OUH for diagnostics and treatment were consecutively included in the study resulting in 3165 patient courses. RESULTS: The overall malignancy detection rate was 40.6% and for HNC it was 29.2%. The overall median fast-track course duration was 12 days (range 0-74). Overall 2990 (94.5%) of 3165 patients completed their fast-track course within the maximally permitted course duration. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Based on our findings, it was concluded that: 1) a HNC fast-track program build on pre-booked slots for diagnostics and treatment is feasible and can secure acceptable course durations for more than 90% of patient courses, 2) by using private ENT specialists as a 'filter-function', an acceptable detection rate can be achieved.
INTRODUCTION: During the 1990s, all Nordic countries except for Denmark experienced a general increase in 5-year survival rates for cancerpatients. In 2007, the Danish National Board of Health in collaboration with national multidisciplinary cancer groups and the Danish regions initiated fast-track clinical pathway solutions. OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were 1) to present the setup of the head and neck cancer (HNC) fast-track program at Odense University Hospital (OUH) as an example of the Danish model and 2) to present patient characteristics, diagnostic outcome, cancer detection rate, and duration of the fast-track patient courses. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From 1st July 2012 to 1st September 2015, all patients referred to the HNC fast-track program at OUH for diagnostics and treatment were consecutively included in the study resulting in 3165 patient courses. RESULTS: The overall malignancy detection rate was 40.6% and for HNC it was 29.2%. The overall median fast-track course duration was 12 days (range 0-74). Overall 2990 (94.5%) of 3165 patients completed their fast-track course within the maximally permitted course duration. DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: Based on our findings, it was concluded that: 1) a HNC fast-track program build on pre-booked slots for diagnostics and treatment is feasible and can secure acceptable course durations for more than 90% of patient courses, 2) by using private ENT specialists as a 'filter-function', an acceptable detection rate can be achieved.
Authors: Robert P Takes; Gyorgy B Halmos; John A Ridge; Paolo Bossi; Matthias A W Merkx; Alessandra Rinaldo; Alvaro Sanabria; Ludi E Smeele; Antti A Mäkitie; Alfio Ferlito Journal: Curr Oncol Rep Date: 2020-07-10 Impact factor: 5.075