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In this month’s Guidelines in Practice, Dr David Baldwin, Consultant Respiratory Physician at Nottingham University Hospitals, discusses the recent update to the NICE guideline on the management of lung cancer,¹ and highlights the latest recommendations that are most relevant to primary care (click here to view article).

It is disturbing to know that almost 75% of people in the UK who have lung cancer present with advanced disease,² and only 32% survive for 1 year.³ The updated NICE guideline should help to address this low survival rate with the inclusion of new evidence-based recommendations on diagnosis and staging of the disease. A new diagnostic and staging algorithm has also been developed and can be viewed by clicking here.

Based on recent developments, recommendations on communication with patients, different approaches to treatment, and follow up have also been included in the updated guideline, and Dr Baldwin explains the important role that GPs will play in each of these areas. Another way in which primary care can support patients is through smoking cessation: although patients with lung cancer may feel this is futile, evidence shows that it can both improve patient survival and reduce postoperative complications and is, as such, worthwhile.G

Julia Morris, Editor
julia.morris@mgp.ltd.uk

References

1. National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. The diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer (update). London: NICE, 2011. Available at: guidance.nice.org.uk/CG121
2. Department of Health. Improving outcomes: a strategy for cancer. London: DH, 2011.
3. Rich A, Tata L, Stanley R et al. Lung cancer in England: information from the National Lung Cancer Audit (LUCADA). Lung Cancer 2011: 72 (1): 16–22.