Covered by a little more than 650,000 patients diagnosed with cancer between 2014 and 2021 in Ontario (Canada), a study published within the Journal of the Canadian Medical Association showed that 35%, or 229,683 of them, had gone to the emergency room within 90 days before diagnosis. Among them, only “51.4% were admitted to the hospital from the emergency department,” report the researchers.
The study demonstrated that most patients admitted to the emergency room and diagnosed with cancer colorectal had gone to the emergency room due to intestinal obstructionwhose symptoms are similar to those of appendicitis, and abdominal pain.
An unsuitable environment for diagnosis
The lead author, Dr. Keerat Grewal and his co-authors deplore an unsuitable emergency department “to care for patients with a suspected diagnosis of cancer”. “Although some patients may benefit from hospitalization due to cancer-related symptoms or complications, hospital admission and follow-up from the emergency department are costly and contribute to hospital crowding, especially if these can be carried out on an outpatient basis,” say the researchers.
Essential for making the diagnosis, emergency services are generally not equipped to provide care or do not offer…
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