Readiness of cancer patients to report for examination and treatment

The purpose of the present research was to obtain information of the way in which cancer patients report for examination and treatment and the delay often observed in this. The material comprises data collected by questionnaire in January 1986 concerning a total of 123 volunteer participants suffering from various types of cancer and at different stages of the disease. In summary, it may be said that 43% of the cancer sufferers studied here had sought advice on the cause of the symptoms within a month of their appearance, or else their disease had been discovered by accident, and almost three-quarters had done so within three months. Two-thirds of the respondents to the questionnaire had seen two doctors at most at the diagnosis stage, which may be considered a good diagnostic performance, although the remaining third had had to consult more than two doctors, as many as seven in some cases.