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Delay in diagnosis of soft tissue sarcomas
1Department of Surgical Oncology, University Hospital Gasthuisberg, Catholic University Leuven, Leuven, Belgium.
Aim:
We reviewed 100 patients referred with soft tissue sarcoma between May 1999 to determine doctor- and patient-related delay.
Methods:
Patient delay is defined as longer than one month from first symptoms till doctor's visit, doctor delay as longer than one month from first visit till definitive diagnosis. Sixty-eight patients had a multifactional delay.
Results:
Forty-seven patients showed patient delay, with a median patient delay of 4 months, ranging from 2 to 240 months. The main reason for this delay is a painless mass that is mostly ignored. When pain is present, median patient delay is shorter.Twenty-seven patients experienced doctor delay, ranging from 2 to 79 months, with a median of 6 months. The most frequent reason was a misdiagnosis from the outset, on a clinical basis only, or due to a wrong diagnosis on ultrasound. Only two of these 27 patients had a biopsy, showing a benign tumour. High grade tumours are diagnosed earlier, 85% within 6 months.
Conclusions:
Delay in diagnosis of soft tissue sarcomas is still a problem requiring better patient and doctor education.