It's spooky season! Which means its almost Mouth Cancer Awareness month. This week I thought I'd do a little post about mouth cancer referrals.
Important things to include:
Contact information
Location of suspected pathology
Risk Factors
Symptoms
USC= Urgent suspected cancer. In this referral patients are expected to be seen within 14 days. This is sometimes called the Two Week Wait referral.
This is the referral pathway to use when there is:
Unexplained ulceration in the oral cavity lasting >3W
Persistent and unexplained neck lump
Lip lump or oral cavity lump that is consistent with cancer
Red or a red and white patch (erythroplakia or erythroleukoplakia)
Patients should usually hear back within 1 week of referring so it may be good to check whether they have had contact. The likelihood is that it is nothing, but you need to get it checked.
As Professor Mike Lewis of Cardiff University said: About 6% of cases referred are squamous cell cancer. Approximately 1/3 of referrals are resolved without any pathology, fibre-epithelial polyps, geographic tongue, and fissured tongue. But it is imperative to refer if unsure.
Refs:
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