The effect of the endoscopist on the wait-time for colorectal cancer surgery
Bora Karip, Yalın İşcan, Birol Ağca, Mahir Fersahoğlu, Timuçin Aydın, Kafkas Çelik, Nuriye Esen Bulut, Kemal Memişoğlu
Clinic of General Surgery, Fatih Sultan Mehmet Teaching and Training Hospital, İstanbul, Turkey
Abstract
Objective: The effect of expertise of physicians who perform endoscopy on preoperative wait-time of colorectal cancer patients was evaluated.
Material and Methods: Data of 86 patients who have been operated with a diagnosis of colorectal cancer from January 2011-February 2013 regarding age, sex, tumor location, colonoscopy date, surgery date, the expertise and institution of the endoscopist were retrospectively examined. The time between colonoscopy and surgery was accepted as the pre-operative wait time (PWT).
Results: From 86 patients, 24 (27.9%) colonoscopies were performed by general surgeons (GS), and 62 (72.1%) by gastroenterologists (GE). When patients who underwent colonoscopy in other centers were extracted, the PWT for our center was 20.4±10.8 days. When grouped according to specialties, the PWT of patients who had their colonoscopy performed by GS was significantly shorter than patients who underwent colonoscopy by GE at the same center (p<0.05). Patient’s age, sex and location of the tumor had no effect on PWT (p>0.05).
Conclusion: The preparation time for surgery in colorectal cancer patients is influenced by the specialty of the physician performing the procedure. In order to standardize this period, a common flow diagram after endoscopy should be established for patients with suspected malignancy.
Keywords: Colorectal cancer, colonoscopy, pre-operative wait time
This study was designed retrospectively so the ethics comitee approval was not needed.
Informed patient consent form including colonoscopy and surgical treatment protocol were obtained from all patients included in this study.
Externally peer-reviewed.
Concept - B.K., Y.İ.; Design - B.K., K.Ç., B.A.; Supervision - M.F., B.A.; Funding - M.F.; Data Collection and/or Processing - B.K., Y.İ., T.A.; Analysis and/or Interpretation - M.F., N.E.B.; Literature Review - Y.İ., B.K.; Writer - B.K., Y.İ.; Critical Review - M.F., B.K.
No conflict of interest was declared by the authors.
The authors declared that this study has received no financial support.