Dr Stephen Robinson, Clinical Oncologist Registrar, has spearheaded a new way of working, addressing the rising number of tumours found incidentally during chest imaging for other health concerns, including blunt chest trauma, suspected blood clots and respiratory conditions.
These tumours, while generally benign, have posed a diagnostic challenge due to the lack of uniform guidelines, leading to differing practices across healthcare settings.
Dr Stephen Robinson explains: “The lack of a standardised pathway often means patients undergoing unnecessary scans or surgeries. As these findings are less common than other lung conditions, individual centres cannot build up their own experience, and so pooling the experience from large centres across the UK was needed to develop this pathway.
“Through this pathway, patients with non-harmful findings can be discharged with confidence, reducing the anxiety and need for unnecessary follow up scans, whilst a streamlined pathway for patients needing treatment will help to minimise delays in receiving care.”
On behalf of the British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG), Dr Stephen Robinson, alongside a team of clinicians, recently developed a standard approach to investigating these tumours.
Through discussions with expert groups and reviewing the available scientific research, the group have identified the best practice for the accurate diagnosis for these tumours and improving the management of them.
This includes more effective use of CT and MR imaging, and adapting to local resources and expertise, to support clinical teams in making accurate diagnoses confidently.
This will allow non-harmful findings to be identified, minimising unnecessary imaging and procedures and ensure further investigations happen when needed. Also, appropriate surveillance and diagnostics can be carried out in the correct settings.
The pathway has now been presented at the 2024 BTOG Annual Conference and the associated review describing the evidence for the pathway has been published in the leading UK radiology journal, Clinical Radiology.
There are now ongoing discussions to implement this pathway across Sussex to provide a standardised and evidence-based process, driving improvements in patient care within the county. This will ensure that patients receive the same best practice investigations and management plan, regardless of where they are based in Sussex.
Last year, UHSussex released our Research and Innovation Strategy which sets out our five-year ambitions for healthcare research and innovation within the Trust and for the people of Sussex. This is in support of our vision of providing excellent care, every time for all our patients.