{
  "abstract": "Introduction Since introduction of the 2-Week Waiting (2WW) referral system in the UK in 2000, some studies found increasing referrals via the pathway and decreasing number of cancer diagnoses. We analysed the effectiveness and compliance of the regional 2WW suspected Brain and CNS Malignancy Pathway.Methods Data was collected retrospectively from Basildon Hospital’s 2WW Brain and CNS Malignancy Pathway referrals made to the Neurology Department between October 2022 and December 2023.Results A total of 255 patients were referred during 14 months (median age 51 years, 57% females). Headache was the presenting complaint in 61.6% referred patients. Almost 60% of referrals were found to be non-compliant to standard NICE-Performa/guidelines for Brain and CNS Malignancy Pathway. Amongst these, only 1 (0.3%) CNS malignancy and 10 (3.9%) benign tumours were diagnosed. The positive predictive value of headache in predicting CNS malignancy was 0.6%.Conclusion Our data is the second largest 2WW CNS cohort in the UK to date. Similar to other studies, the pick up rate of CNS tumours was very low. Patients with headache were referred inappropriately on a 2WW CNS Malignancy pathway; headache was a poor predictor of CNS malignancy. This calls for multi-centre collection of clinical data for potentially revising the pathway to serve the purpose for which it was developed.ayushmohanmakkar@gmail.com",
  "authors": [
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Basildon University Hospital, NHS Mid and South Essex"
      ],
      "name": "Mohan Ayush"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Basildon University Hospital, NHS Mid and South Essex"
      ],
      "name": "Melikyan Elina"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Basildon University Hospital, NHS Mid and South Essex"
      ],
      "name": "Aboelgasim Hajer"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Basildon University Hospital, NHS Mid and South Essex"
      ],
      "name": "Venkataraman Kala"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Basildon University Hospital, NHS Mid and South Essex"
      ],
      "name": "Papachatzaki Maria"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Basildon University Hospital, NHS Mid and South Essex"
      ],
      "name": "Sveinbjornsdottir Sigurlaug"
    },
    {
      "affiliations": [
        "Basildon University Hospital, NHS Mid and South Essex"
      ],
      "name": "Abdu Abdul"
    }
  ],
  "title": "187 Analysis of urgent referrals to neurology via the 2-Week wait pathway for suspected CNS malignancies",
  "uid": "9b7c79a6-9d22-50aa-b857-978dff81be47"
}