TY - JOUR T1 - NICE suspected cancer guidelines JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 580 LP - 581 VL - 55 IS - 517 AU - Orest Mulka Y1 - 2005/08/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/55/517/580.abstract N2 - The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) Referral Guidelines for Suspected Cancer1 are the update of those issued by the Department of Health guidelines of 2000,2 which were usually referred to as the ‘2-week wait’ guidelines.These guidelines are different in nature to the large majority of guidelines that NICE produces as they are not for a specific condition, for example schizophrenia or epilepsy. These guidelines are about the referral of patients with suspected cancer. Since early diagnosis is a priority, the large majority of patients will not actually have cancer. The diagnosis of advanced cancer is easy, and the guidelines relating to this can appear patronising, but the challenge is to detect cancers early. The positive predictive value of rectal bleeding for colorectal cancer is less than 1 in 1000 in the community, 1 in 50 in general practice and 1 in 3 of those referred to hospital by GPs.3 The guidelines cover 12 different cancer groups, and these are very different diseases. In the case of symptomatic breast cancer, over 90% of women have a breast lump at presentation and survival is 77% at 5 years, while with lung cancer, only 5% present with a ‘typical’ symptom of haemoptysis, and only 6% survive 5 years.The new guidelines have been produced within a timescale that has allowed a rigorous … ER -