Head and Neck Cancer: Time from Diagnosis to Treatment and Its Impact on Outcomes

Abstract

Objectives:

Effective head and neck cancer care requires a multidisciplinary approach. Proper coordination, or lack thereof, can greatly influence delays in treatment. Proper coordination can be improved with the help of patient navigation via cancer care coordination. Finally, there is scarce research on what is an acceptable delay in treatment of head and neck cancer and its impact on patient outcomes. The aim of this study is to determine how a cancer care coordinator (CCC) for patient navigation may improve timeliness of care and patient compliance.

Methods:

A retrospective and prospective cohort of 161 veterans at the Washington, DC, VA who were diagnosed with head and neck cancer after January 1, 2007, were studied. The cohort was divided into 2 groups: patients diagnosed before versus after the advent of the CCC at our institution. These groups were compared for their average diagnosis-to-treatment time and for average time from diagnosis to completion of treatment.

Results:

The overall mean time from diagnosis to treatment initiation was 47 days. The CCC group had an average time of 41 days and the group without CCC had an average of 63 days. The overall mean time from diagnosis to completion of treatment was 127 days—92 days for the CCC group and 148 days for the group without CCC.

Conclusions:

These results clearly show that CCC can both decrease time to initiation and completion of treatment. With further studies and survival data in our cohort, we can define a guideline for timeliness of treatment and describe the role of cancer care coordination in head and neck malignancy.