%0 Journal Article
%T Six-Year Experience of a Nurse-Led Colorectal Cancer Follow-Up Clinic
%A Hasan Al Chalabi
%A James M. O¡¯Riordan
%A Alex Richardson
%A Delia Flannery
%A Katrina O'Connor
%A Charlotte Stuart
%A John Larkin
%A Paul McCormick
%A Brian Mehigan
%J Surgery Research and Practice
%D 2014
%R 10.1155/2014/368060
%X Aims and Objectives. To review the experience of a nurse-led colorectal cancer follow-up clinic in a tertiary referral colorectal cancer centre. Methodology. Data from the nurse-led colorectal cancer follow-up clinic in our unit was prospectively maintained in a colorectal cancer database. Data was analysed from January 1, 2006 until the December 31, 2011. Results. 1125 patients were diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and referred to our unit as a tertiary centre for specialised colorectal cancer. Nine hundred and four patients had surgical resection of their colorectal cancer. Four hundred and seven patients were referred to the nurse-led colorectal cancer clinic for surveillance. The mean age of the patient cohort was 67 years (range 32¨C88) and 56% of patients were male. One hundred and seventeen patients were discharged to their general practitioner having been disease free after 5 years of followup. Fifty-four patients were diagnosed with either local or distant recurrence. Conclusion. A nurse-led colorectal cancer follow-up clinic is running according to strict follow-up protocols. This type of clinic significantly reduces the number of routine follow-up patients that have to be seen by the colorectal surgical consultant. 1. Introduction The treatment of cancer in Ireland has changed over the last 5 years, with the introduction of centres of excellence in the Irish health service under the guidance of the National Cancer Control Programme [1]. The end result is 8 tertiary referral centres which now deal with all rectal cancers in Ireland. Taken with advances in neoadjuvant and adjuvant treatments and minimally invasive surgical techniques, survival of patients has improved following surgery for colorectal cancer [2¨C5]. This has led to an increasing number of patients being treated in these centres and subsequently requiring surveillance for several years following their treatment. Followup for colorectal cancer patients following surgical resection of the primary tumour is the standard of care. It has been shown to be beneficial in terms of identifying potential patients with recurrence, either local or systemic, who might be candidates for either systemic chemotherapy and/or surgical resection of their recurrent disease [6¨C9]. The traditional model is that these patients would attend the consultant-led clinic and have their follow-up scans, tumour markers, and endoscopy arranged and the results checked at a subsequent visit. The increased concentration of the treatment of colorectal cancer in a smaller number of centres in Ireland has led to an
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/srp/2014/368060/