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Practice guidelines for tumor marker use in the clinic
1Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, United Kingdom. C.Sturgeon@ed.ac.uk
Clinical Chemistry
|July 27, 2002
Summary
Clinical guidelines offer valuable recommendations for using serum tumor markers in oncology. Implementing these guidelines can improve evidence-based medicine practices and patient care, though further research is needed.
Area of Science:
- Oncology
- Clinical Pathology
Background:
- Growing interest in evidence-based medicine in oncology has spurred the creation of clinical guidelines.
- These guidelines often address the appropriate utilization of serum tumor markers.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review and compare national and international guidelines on tumor marker use in various cancers.
- To assess the current state of guidelines for screening, diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy monitoring.
Main Methods:
- Identified and tabulated recent national and international guidelines from scientific literature and other sources.
- Focused on guidelines for germ cell, colorectal, breast, ovarian, prostate, lung, neuroendocrine, and thyroid cancers.
Main Results:
- Guideline recommendations for tumor marker use in specific cancers were reviewed and compared.
- Considered recommendations for screening, diagnosis, prognosis, and therapy monitoring.
- Evaluated potential advantages, disadvantages, implementation strategies, and auditing methods for clinical guidelines.
Conclusions:
- Effective clinical guidelines with recommendations for optimal tumor marker use exist for numerous cancers.
- Further dissemination and implementation of these guidelines are encouraged to enhance clinical practice.
- Audit studies are necessary to determine the impact of guidelines on evidence-based medicine in oncology.