12 Sep 2024
The National Kidney Cancer Audit (NKCA), part of the National Cancer Audit Collaborating Centre (NATCAN), has published a State of the Nation 2024 report on care received by people diagnosed with kidney cancer in England (January 2017-December 2021) and Wales (January-December 2022).
Providing a baseline description of care delivered in NHS hospitals, it reports on indicators that were defined to monitor progress against five NKCA healthcare quality improvement goals:
- Increase the use of renal tumour biopsy
- Expedite treatment of people with potentially high risk for recurrence of localised and locally advanced Renal Cell Carcinomas (RCCs)
- Increase the use of surgery, if medically appropriate, for initially localised RCC at risk of progression
- Reduce the use of unnecessary extensive surgery for low-risk RCC
- Increase the use of evidence based Systemic Anti-Cancer Treatments (SACT) in eligible people with kidney cancer without severe toxicity.
This report also contains five recommendations:
- Increase the number of people with a small renal mass who receive a renal mass biopsy to confirm the histological diagnosis, by improving availability of timely diagnostics
- Review pathways for higher risk RCC to understand system-level delays and ensure providers treat these people within 31 days from decision to treat in England and 21 days in Wales
- Identify and address reasons why people with kidney cancer, stage T1b-3Nx RCC are not considered for surgical treatment and increase the number of eligible people
- Ensure that people with kidney cancer, stage T1aN0M0 RCC are discussed in specialist multidisciplinary team meetings and offered nephron sparing treatment
- Ensure people diagnosed with metastatic RCC are evaluated by a medical/clinical oncologist with expertise in renal cancer management and receive systemic anti-cancer therapy (SACT).
Read the full report: You can view the report by clicking the button below.
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