ArticleNeuro-oncology2016
A new clinical guideline from the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health with a national awareness campaign accelerates brain tumor diagnosis in UK children--"HeadSmart: Be Brain Tumour Aware".
Article in Neuro-oncology, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 40 papers, 3 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
40 citing papers in PubMed, 3 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 77 citations in OpenAlex.
- Spotting childhood abdominal tumours: a systematic review and meta-analysis of the clinical presentation.Archives of disease in childhood · 2026Pooled it
- Clinical presentation of bone tumours in children and young people: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Archives of disease in childhood · 2025Pooled it
- Interventions to reduce the time to diagnosis of brain tumours.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2020Pooled it
- Trial
- Assessing and investigating children with suspected soft tissue sarcomas: an e-Delphi consensus process.Archives of disease in childhood · 2026Article
- International variation in child healthcare practices and implications for childhood cancer diagnosis: a scoping review and cross-country clinician survey.European journal of pediatrics · 2026Article
- Scoping Review of the Socioeconomic Value of Working Equids, and the Impact of Educational Interventions Aimed at Improving Their Welfare.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2026Review
- "From misdiagnosis to precision medicine: strengthening pediatric neuro-oncology care in LMICs toward equitable pLGG outcomes".Frontiers in oncology · 2026Review
- Use of healthcare services and prescription medication prior to sarcoma diagnosis in children, adolescents, and young adults in 1997-2020: a population-based cohort study.Cancer causes & control : CCC · 2025Article
- Arginine Vasopressin Deficiency in Children with Craniopharyngioma and Cerebral Germ Cell Tumour: Two Sides of the Same Coin - Clinical and Radiological Features.Hormone research in paediatrics · 2025Article
- Surgical management and outcome of medulloblastoma patients at Addis Ababa between 2010 and 2018.Frontiers in oncology · 2025Article
- Identifying children who develop severe chronic kidney disease using primary care records.PloS one · 2025Article
- Hjernetegn.dk-The Danish Central Nervous System Tumor Awareness Initiative Digital Decision Support Tool: Design and Implementation Report.JMIR medical informatics · 2024Article
- Public awareness of childhood, teenager and young adult cancer signs and symptoms in Great Britain: a cross-sectional survey.Archives of disease in childhood · 2023Article
- The effects of educational interventions and the COVID-19 pandemic on the time to diagnosis in pediatric patients with primary central nervous system tumors.Neuro-oncology practice · 2023Article
- Childhood bone tumours in primary care: helping GPs to identify 'the needle in the haystack'.The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners · 2023Article
- Assessing and investigating children with suspected bone and abdominal tumours: an e-Delphi consensus process.BMJ paediatrics open · 2023Article
- Neuroimaging to diagnose central nervous system tumours in children.Canadian family physician Medecin de famille canadien · 2023Article
- Epidemiological characteristics, clinical presentations, and prognoses of pediatric brain tumors: Experiences of national center for children's health.Frontiers in oncology · 2023Article
- A new era for optic pathway glioma: A developmental brain tumor with life-long health consequences.Frontiers in pediatrics · 2023Review
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Abstract
backgroundA national survey in 2006 identified that UK referral practice for pediatric CNS tumors ranked poorly in international comparisons, which led to new National Health Service (NHS) Evidence accredited referral guidelines published in 2008 by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and a campaign to raise awareness of early features of CNS tumors and the need for timely imaging.
methodsThe "HeadSmart: Be Brain Tumour Aware" campaign was launched in June 2011 across the UK as a quality improvement strategy directed at reducing the total diagnostic interval (TDI) from a pre-campaign (2006) median of 14 (mean, 35.4) weeks to a target of 5 weeks in order to equal the best reported internationally. Professional and public awareness was measured by questionnaire surveys. TDI was collected by clinical champions in 18 regional children's cancer centers and the public campaign was coordinated by a national charity, working with a network of community champions.
resultsThe guidelines and campaign raised awareness among pediatricians and were associated with reduction in TDI to a median of 6.7 (mean, 21.3) weeks by May 2013. This change in referral practice was most pronounced in the time from first medical contact to CNS imaging, for which the median was reduced from 3.3 to 1.4 weeks between January 2011 and May 2013 (P = .009).
conclusionThis strategy to accelerate brain tumor diagnosis by the NHS using a public and professional awareness campaign is a "world first" in pediatric cancer and is being emulated internationally and acknowledged by a series of NHS and charity awards for excellence.
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