Cancer research into primary, secondary, tertiary and now quaternary prevention is essential to reducing the overall burden of disease. With regards to head and neck cancer, the focus of most research has centered on tertiary prevention with the goal of reducing the morbidity and mortality of disease after symptom onset. However, despite this, the mortality associated with oral cancer has only seen slight improvement over the past 50 years. The prognosis of oral cancer is highly dependent on the stage at diagnosis. Unfortunately, most studies indicate that more than half of all patients are at an advanced-stage at diagnosis.
One purported explanation for this is that there is a significant delay from the onset of symptoms to the initiation of treatment. As such, we are investigating the role that patient, professional, and treatment delays have on treatment outcomes. Ultimately, we hope to identify factors that contribute to delay and formulate solutions that will allow us to diagnose and treat patients at an earlier stage. The results of our findings will be instrumental in improving institutional and provincial health care policies for head and neck cancer patients.
