EKU Podcast: Updates in detecting cancer in primary care

It is estimated that there are almost 3.5 million people living with cancer in the UK and on average someone is diagnosed with cancer at least every 75 seconds (UK). In this podcast Dr Thomas Round talks to Professor Willie Hamilton, a Professor of Primary Care Cancer Research about the updates to cancer detection in primary care. They reflect on why primary care is so important in this area, the changing epidemiology in cancer and cancer in younger people including the increase in colorectal cancer. They discuss the changes in cancer screening e.g. cervical cancer (introduction of home screening) and bowel cancer (age reduction and Faecal immunochemical test (FIT) thresholds), Positive Predictive Value (PPV), symptomatic presentations, difficult to diagnose cancers and atypical presentations. They also offer top tips for everyday practice and signpost to useful resources.

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References

Best4: Screening for oesophageal health problems

NHS Galleri Trail: Detecting cancer early

Jess’s Rule: Three strikes and we rethink

ERICA Study. Prof. Willie Hamilton

Save T, Neal R D, Round T. A multi-cancer early detection (MCED) test: clinical update for GPs. British Journal of General Practice 2024; 74 (745): 380-382.

Wiering B, Mounce LTA, Price SJ, et al. The impact of morbidity burden on cancer diagnosis; a retrospective cohort study in England. Cancer Epidemiol. 2026 Feb 27;102:103027.

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