Khoo S P, Shanmuhasuntharam P, Mahadzir W M, Tay K K, Latif A, Nair S
Faculty of Dentistry, University of Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Asia Pac J Public Health. 1998;10(1):49-51. doi: 10.1177/101053959801000111.
The delay in the diagnosis of oral cancer has been variously reported as being contributed by the clinicians, patients or both. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the referral pattern of 65 patients eventually diagnosed as having oral squamous cell carcinoma. The results showed that 50% of the patients delayed seeking professional help for more than 3 months after being aware of the lesion. The majority of the patients consulted medical practitioners as the first source of help. The mean clinicians' and patients' delay were 10.3 weeks and 28.9 weeks respectively. Dental practitioners showed a tendency to refer more advanced lesions compared to the medical practitioners. The findings raise the concern that lack of patients' awareness, misdiagnosis by clinicians and late detection by dental practitioners prevail thus calling for urgent measures towards early detection of the disease.
口腔癌诊断的延迟有多种说法，认为是由临床医生、患者或双方造成的。本研究的目的是评估65例最终被诊断为口腔鳞状细胞癌患者的转诊模式。结果显示，50%的患者在意识到病变后延迟寻求专业帮助超过3个月。大多数患者首先向医生咨询以寻求帮助。临床医生和患者的平均延迟分别为10.3周和28.9周。与医生相比，牙医更倾向于转诊病情更严重的病变。这些发现令人担忧，因为患者缺乏认知、临床医生误诊以及牙医发现过晚的情况普遍存在，因此需要采取紧急措施以早期发现该疾病。
