Improving Cancer Diagnosis and Care: Patient Access to High-Quality Oncologic Pathology

Nass, Sharyl J.; Cohen, Michael B.; Nayar, Ritu; Zutter, Mary M.; Balogh, Erin; Schilsky, Richard L.; Hricak, Hedvig; Elenitoba‐Johnson, Kojo S.J.

doi:10.1634/theoncologist.2019-0261

Cited by 14 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 16 publications

(16 reference statements)

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The cause of the widening disparity and poor outcomes for non‐city dwellers is multifactorial with a high proportion of high‐stage and screening preventable cancers, a higher proportion of underinsured and uninsured people, an increase in tobacco‐related cancer types, and fewer available diagnostic services and treatments, including a marked decrease in clinical trial enrollment 87,118,119,122 . Limited access to diagnostic services, including pathology ancillary testing and new technology, such as described here, has already been cited as a contributing factor 120 …”

Section: What Makes Molecular Pathology Susceptible To Unjust Distrib...mentioning

confidence: 84%

“…87,118,119,122 Limited access to diagnostic services, including pathology ancillary testing and new technology, such as described here, has already been cited as a contributing factor. 120 As mentioned, for some NGS tests and circumstances, regional/local Medicare administrative contractors (MACs) still determine whether NGS will be covered. Medicare hospital and outpatient claims, including laboratory testing, are processed through contracted companies (MACs), which hold regional territories.…”

Section: Regional Disparitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Toward a More Just System of Care in Molecular Pathology

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

r American health care policy must be critically assessed to establish the role it plays in sustaining and alleviating the health disparities that currently exist in molecular genetic testing.r It is critical to understand the economic and sociocultural influences that drive patients to undergo or forgo molecular testing, especially in marginalized patient populations.r A multipronged solution with actions necessary from multiple stakeholders is required to reduce the cost of health care, rebalance regional disparities, encourage physician engagement, reduce data bias, and earn patients' trust. Context:The health status of a population is greatly influenced by both biological processes and external factors. For years, minority and low socioeconomic patient populations have faced worse outcomes and poorer health in the United States. Experts have worked extensively to understand the issues and find solutions to alleviate this disproportionate burden of disease. As a result, there have been some improvements and successes, but wide gaps still exist. Diagnostic molecular genetic testing and so-called personalized medicine are just now being integrated into the current American health care system. The way in which these tests are integrated can either exacerbate or reduce health disparities.

show abstract

Section: What Makes Molecular Pathology Susceptible To Unjust Distrib...mentioning

confidence: 84%

Section: Regional Disparitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Toward a More Just System of Care in Molecular Pathology

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Therefore, building for adequate patient care in such settings should include training skilled oncology personnel for all levels of care in addition to creating the setting for cutting-edge research to prevent, detect or treat these cancers [25][26][27][28]. Also, immunohistochemistry and molecular testing of tumours should begin to be prioritised in poorer communities in order to reasonably identify each tumour type and determine predictive and prognostic features for individual patients [29,30].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Cancer histotypes and trends in Azare, Northeast Nigeria: impact of diagnostic support disparity in data reporting

Ezenkwa¹,

Imam²,

Yusuf³

et al. 2023

ecancer

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Background: Definitive, affordable, and timely diagnosis of cancer is key to providing data for surveillance and control programmes. Care disparities have been shown to contribute to poorer survival, especially in resource-constrained populations. Here, we describe the profile of histologically diagnosed cancers in our hospital and highlight the possible effects of inadequate diagnostic support on data reporting. Methods:We designed a retrospective cross-sectional descriptive study to review histopathology reports archived at the Department of Pathology of our hospital spanning from January 2011 to December 2022. Cases diagnosed as cancer were retrieved and classified by systems, organs and histology types alongside the patient's age and gender. The trend in the volume of pathology requests and the corresponding malignant diagnosis yield over the period was also documented. Data generated were analyzed statistically using appropriate statistics and presented as proportions and means, with the level of statistical significance set at p < 0.05.Results: There were 488 cancers out of 3,237 histopathology requests received within the study period. Of these 316 (64.7%) were females. Overall mean age was 48.8 ± 18.6 years with a peak age at the sixth decade, females being significantly younger (46.1 versus 53.5 years; p < 0.001). The top five cancers were breast (22.7%), cervical (12.7%), prostate (11.7%), skin (10.7%) and colorectal cancers (8%). Among females, breast, cervical and ovarian cancers predominated, whereas prostate, skin and colorectal cancers, were commonest among males in decreasing order. Paediatric malignancies accounted for 3.7% of all the cases, most being small round blue cell tumours. The volume of pathology requests rose remarkably from 95 cases in 2014 to 625 cases in 2022 with a corresponding increase in cancer case diagnoses. Conclusion:Cancer subtypes and ranking in this study are similar to those from urban populations in Nigeria and Africa, despite the low number of cases recorded. Efforts to reduce the disease burden are warranted.

show abstract

“…Strengthening the collaboration through shared knowledge between oncologists and pathologists will not only improve the fund of knowledge among both sets of physicians but also complement the approach to each patient with metastatic cancer. Efforts to further integrate pathologists into the delivery of patient care have been undertaken, and future work should seek to augment oncologists’ communication with their affiliated Pathology Departments [ 27 ].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Medical oncologists’ perspectives of the Veterans Affairs National Precision Oncology Program

et al. 2020

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

Improving Cancer Diagnosis and Care: Patient Access to High-Quality Oncologic Pathology

Abstract: Drawing on discussions at a workshop hosted by the National Cancer Policy Forum, current challenges in pathology are reviewed and practical steps to facilitate high‐quality cancer diagnosis and care through improved patient access to expertise in oncologic pathology are highlighted

Cited by 14 publications

References 16 publications

Toward a More Just System of Care in Molecular Pathology

Toward a More Just System of Care in Molecular Pathology

Cancer histotypes and trends in Azare, Northeast Nigeria: impact of diagnostic support disparity in data reporting

Medical oncologists’ perspectives of the Veterans Affairs National Precision Oncology Program

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About