OP08
DELAYED DIAGNOSIS OF PAEDIATRIC CNS TUMOURS - HEADSMART BE BRAIN TUMOUR AWARE (WWW.HEADSMART.ORG.UK) Free

INTRODUCTION: A systematic review in 2005 identified that UK total diagnostic interval (TDI) ranked poorly in international comparisons, leading to new referral guidelines and a campaign to raise awareness of symptoms justifying timely imaging. This project aimed (1) to repeat the systematic review from 2005 and conduct an international TDI comparison since the launch of HeadSmart in 2011; and (2) identify the tumour subtypes with the greatest proportion of delayed diagnostic intervals to inform the ongoing campaign. METHOD: TDI data was collected by clinical champions in 18 regional children's cancer centres. Systematic literature review using PubMed, EMBASE, The Cochrane Library and ISI Web of Science was undertaken to identify relevant publications between January 2005 and December 2014. Descriptive analysis was used to compare the difference between subgroups. RESULTS: The median UK TDI reduced from 3.3 (2006) to 1.5 months (mean 4.9 months) by May 2013. From 6,482 articles 3 were identified reporting TDI of all brain tumour types. International comparison showed that from 2000-2014, the UK data is second only to a 2005 Polish study reporting a median of 1.0 month (mean 4.9 months). Tumour subtypes with the greatest proportion of prolonged TDI were craniopharyngioma, low-grade glioma, germ cell tumours and optic pathway glioma with median TDIs of 3.5, 2.7, 1.3 and 2.4 months respectively. CONCLUSION: This strategy to accelerate brain tumour diagnosis in UK using an awareness campaign is a “world first” in paediatric cancer, producing leading performance in referral intervals. Identifying the subgroups with most skewed TDIs permits this information to be used to appropriately tailor further intervention.