Oral cancer in England

Public Health England | May 2020 | Oral cancer in England

Public Health England (PHE) has published the incidence, survival and mortality rates of oral cancer in England from 2012 to 2016.

This report presents oral cancer data for England held by the National Cancer Registration and Analysis Service (NCRAS) and includes incidence, survival and mortality rates. It covers the period from 2012 to 2016, and the data is presented at national, regional, upper-tier and lower-tier local authority level.

Incidence and mortality rates for oral cancer have risen in recent years, and most cases present with advanced disease, which reduces prognosis. Risk factors for oral cancer include smoking, other ways of using tobacco such as chewing, drinking alcohol and infection with the human papilloma virus (HPV). Treatment may be with surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy or a combination of these.

Stark inequalities in oral cancer exist between geographic areas and population groups, and there are opportunities to prevent oral cancer and to support early detection and treatment. The data in this report identifies the geographic areas and population groups most at risk to facilitate the planning of health improvement initiatives and clinical services.

Full details availalbe from PHE 

Click to access Oral_cancer_report.pdf

 

Clinical impact of COVID-19 on patients with cancer

Clinical impact of COVID-19 on patients with cancer (CCC19): a cohort study | The Lancet | published 28^th May 2020

Data on patients with COVID-19 who have cancer are lacking. In this article, the authors characterise the outcomes of a cohort of patients with cancer and COVID-19 and identify potential prognostic factors for mortality and severe illness.

The research found that among patients with cancer and COVID-19, 30-day all-cause mortality was high and associated with general risk factors and risk factors unique to patients with cancer. Longer follow-up is needed to better understand the effect of COVID-19 on outcomes in patients with cancer, including the ability to continue specific cancer treatments.

Full article: Clinical impact of COVID-19 on patients with cancer

NICE recommends atezolizumab for treating people with triple negative breast cancer

Improved deal means new treatment for a type of advanced breast cancer can be recommended by NICE

Draft guidance published by NICE recommends atezolizumab for treating people with a type of breast cancer, called triple negative breast cancer, that has spread to other parts of the body.

The positive recommendation follows consultation on NICE’s previous draft guidance which did not recommend atezolizumab. The company has agreed to provide a larger discount to the list price of the drug following a deal with NHS England & NHS Improvement.

Around 2000 people in England have triple negative breast cancer, of whom around 600 people would be eligible for treatment with atezolizumab and nab-paclitaxel.

Full detail at National Institute for Health & Care Excellence

Screening restart: Guidance for safe service provision during Covid-19 pandemic and post pandemic phase

Screening restart: Guidance for safe service provision during Covid-19 pandemic and post pandemic phase | The Society and College of Radiographers | Royal College of Radiologists

The Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR), in collaboration with the Royal College of Radiologists (RCR), has produced this joint guidance to support the restarting of screening services involving imaging during the COVID-19 pandemic. This document offers guidance to members and providers. It supports ‘paused’ or ‘stopped’ services to recommence safely, protecting staff and clients.

The guidance within this document is to inform local policy decisions with regard to the delivering of screening services, to ensure that providers meet government recommendations, while still providing client-centred care within the challenging environments of the COVID-19 pandemic and post pandemic (endemic) stage. All staff should work to the same local policy, to provide a consistent service to clients.

Full document: Screening restart: Guidance for safe service provision during Covid-19 pandemic and post pandemic phase

Caring for People with Dementia: a clinical practice guideline for the radiography workforce

Caring for People with Dementia: a clinical practice guideline for the radiography
workforce (imaging and radiotherapy) | The Society and College of Radiographers

Caring for people with Dementia: a clinical practice guideline for the radiography workforce (imaging and radiotherapy) is a comprehensive and evidence-based document. It has a set of recommendations for the whole radiographic workforce caring for people with dementia and carers when undergoing imaging and/or radiotherapy. It has been developed systematically using the best available evidence from research and expert opinion, including service users, and subjected to peer professional, lay and external review.

Image source: http://www.sor.org

The guideline has recommendations for good practice for individual members of the radiographic workforce, service managers, academic institutions and the Society and College of Radiographers (SCoR).

As a whole, this guideline acts to highlight to practitioners that to offer the best service and healthcare outcomes for people with dementia and carers, care must be tailored to the needs of the invidual.

There have been minor changes to the language used in this second edition, which emphasises the ability of and need for people with dementia to continue to live well with a good quality of meaningful life.

Full document: Caring for People with Dementia: a clinical practice guideline for the radiography workforce

The impact on outcomes from cancer surgery of the COVID-19 pandemic

The NHS must ensure cancer-surgery delays do not cost more lives than the number of Covid-19 patients saved | Annals of Oncology

• Lockdown and re-deployment due to the COVID-19 pandemic is causing significant disruption to cancer diagnosis and management.
• 3-month delay to surgery across all Stage 1-3 cancers is estimated to cause >4,700 attributable deaths per year in England.
• The impact on life years lost of 3-6 month to surgery for Stage 1-3 disease varies widely between tumour types.
• Strategic prioritisation of patients for diagnostics and surgery has potential to mitigate deaths attributable to delays.
• The resource-adjusted benefit in avoiding delay in cancer management compares favourably to admission for COVID-19 infection.

Full article: Collateral damage: the impact on outcomes from cancer surgery of the COVID-19 pandemic | Annals of Oncology (2020)

See also: Coronavirus: Cancer surgery delays risk ‘thousands’ of deaths | BBC News

NICE draft guidance recommends new treatment option for people with early breast cancer

NICE  |  May 2020  | NICE draft guidance recommends new treatment option for people with early breast cancer

NICE published draft guidance which recommends trastuzumab emtansine (also called Kadcyla and made by Roche) as an option for some people with HER2-positive early breast cancer.

Around 7000 people diagnosed each year in England with early breast cancer have HER2-positive disease. HER2, which stands for human epidermal growth factor receptor 2, is a protein on the surface of cancer cells which makes them grow and divide.

Trastuzumab emtansine is a type of targeted cancer drug. Trastuzumab attaches to the HER2 receptor allowing the emtansine to go into the cancer cell where it becomes active and kills the cancer cell.

Clinical trial evidence shows that in people who still have some cancer cells remaining after chemotherapy to shrink their tumour and HER2-targeted treatment, trastuzumab emtansine increases the time people remain free of disease compared with trastuzumab alone. It is not known if trastuzumab emtansine increases the length of time people live because the final trial results are not yet available.

NICE NICE draft guidance recommends new treatment option for people with early breast cancer