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Volume 1, Number 3 |
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| Advice can be hard to get, say patients |
Jesme Baird MB ChB MBA Director of Patient Care, The Roy Castle Lung Cancer Foundation |
Twenty per cent of lung cancer patients said they found it difficult, very difficult or impossible to obtain advice, according to a recent patient survey. Twenty-two per cent had cause to challenge doctors over perceived deficiencies in their treatment or care. Only around half had access to a lung cancer nurse at diagnosis, but all who did found this very important. |
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| Clinical studies round-up |
Richard Stephens, Research Scientist responsible for the Medical Research Council Clinical Trials Unit’s portfolio of lung cancer trials |
In the first two issues of Lung Cancer in Practice, Professor Ian Smith reviewed some of the current National Cancer Research Institute randomised lung cancer trials. In this issue, I will complete the descriptions of the trials now accruing and in the next issue, I will look at some of the new trials that are due to start shortly. |
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| How to assess and manage depression in lung cancer patients |
Mari Lloyd-Williams MD FRCP MRCGP MMedSci ILTM Honorary Consultant in Palliative Medicine, University of Liverpool Medical School |
Relatively little research has been carried out into the psychological and psychiatric sequelae of lung cancer. Depression is a significant symptom but it is under-recognised and frequently not treated.1–3 |
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| Focus on patients’ non-medical needs |
Michael D Peake, Editor |
It has been rewarding to observe a steady increase in the level of professional interest in lung cancer over the last 8–9 years in the UK. This has been accompanied by significant progress in the provision of co-ordinated specialist medical services for the patients and some advances in diagnostic techniques and treatment. What have perhaps received less attention are the psychological and ‘non-medical’ needs of both patients and their carers. |
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| The Lung Cancer Advisory Group: contributing to policy making |
Mike Richards CBE National Cancer Director for England, Chair of the Lung Cancer Advisory Group |
It is now widely acknowledged that cancer services in England were underfunded in the 1970s and 1980s. Consequently, the quality of services provided in this country for cancer patients fell behind those provided in several other European countries and survival rates fell below the European average. |
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| Poor performance status patients and the TOPICAL trial |
Grant Stewart MBBS MRCP; Siow Ming Lee PhD FRCP Whittington and University College London Hospitals |
Non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) affects over 38,000 new patients annually and kills 33,600 patients in the UK every year.1 The majority of these patients present with advanced disease (stage III or IV) and are therefore unsuitable for curative surgical resection or radical radiotherapy. |
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