The government has welcomed new guidance to help GPs spot the signs of childhood abdominal cancers sooner.
The Child Cancer Smart campaign, led by CCLG: The Children & Young People’s Cancer Association, has launched new referral guidelines and decision support tools for healthcare professionals, alongside symptom lists for families.
The guidance was supported with funding from an NIHR Doctoral Award. It aims to shorten diagnosis times for under-18s with abdominal tumours. These tumours can be difficult to detect as symptoms often overlap with other common childhood illnesses.
Minister for Public Health, Sharon Hodgson, said: “Everyday counts when it comes to diagnosing childhood cancer, and this new guidance is a vital step towards ensuring no child waits longer than necessary to get the answers and treatment they need.
“Our National Cancer Plan sets out an ambitious goal – for three in four people diagnosed with cancer in 2035 to be cancer-free or living well after five years. Early diagnosis is fundamental to achieving that.
“I want to thank CCLG and the researchers behind Child Cancer Smart for their tireless work in equipping GPs and families with the tools to spot the signs sooner. We’re committed to supporting the brilliant science and dedicated professionals who make that possible.”
Kidney and neuroblastoma tumours have been shown to be larger or more advanced at diagnosis in the UK compared to other EU countries, which experts link to delays in diagnosis.
To support families and healthcare professionals, Child Cancer Smart has developed abdominal tumour symptom lists to help parents spot the warning signs earlier.
Dr Shaarna Shanmugavadivel, a paediatric emergency medicine doctor and CCLG Child Cancer Smart Research Fellow in the School of Medicine at the University of Nottingham, said: “Around 15% of children with cancer will have an abdominal tumour.
“As an abdominal tumour grows bigger, it causes symptoms by pressing on other structures around it, such as nerves or other organs. Identifying this as early as possible is important, because later diagnosis risks later stage cancers that may have spread. This can mean higher intensity treatments, or sadly, a lower chance of survival.”
Leonie Snedden’s daughter Lucie was diagnosed with Wilms tumour at age five. Leonie credits her instinct with securing a swift diagnosis and allowing Lucie to begin treatment quickly. She added: “To this day, I always think how lucky it was that I acted on a gut feeling and did not leave it longer. I dread to think how things could have been if not caught so quickly.”
Natalie Rowan’s son Harris was 9 months old when he was diagnosed with an aggressive liver cancer in July 2022. Natalie had taken Harris to an out-of-hours doctors appointment with a suspected throat infection and a bit of bloating. Doctors immediately recognised the signs of cancer.
She said: “Time was of the essence because the cancer had already spread to Harris’s lungs and the extent of disease meant he was on a very high-risk treatment protocol.”
Harris was unable to receive a life-saving liver transplant until the cancer was eradicated from his lungs – something made possible by starting chemotherapy quickly. Natalie hopes that Child Cancer Smart’s campaign will help other families receive faster diagnoses too.
“Awareness is power,” explained Natalie, “and anything that speeds up diagnosis is hugely important for more beneficial outcomes.”
Source : Pharmabiz
