Optimal timeframes & summary
Evidence-based guidelines, where they exist, should inform timeframes. Treatment teams need to recognise that shorter timeframes for appropriate consultations and treatment can promote a better experience for patients. Three steps in the pathway specify timeframes for care. They are designed to help patients understand the timeframes in which they can expect to be assessed and treated, and to help health services plan care delivery in accordance with expert-informed time parameters to meet the expectation of patients. These timeframes are based on expert advice from the Endometrial Cancer Working Group.
Timeframes for care
|
Step in pathway |
Care point |
Timeframe |
|
Presentation, initial investigations and referral |
Signs and symptoms |
Presenting symptoms should be promptly and clinically triaged with a health professional |
|
Initial investigations initiated by GP |
Results should be available for patient review within 2 weeks of initial presentation |
|
|
Referral to specialist |
The patient should be referred to a specialist within 4 weeks of initial presentation |
|
|
Diagnosis, staging and treatment planning |
Diagnosis and staging |
Pre-treatment diagnosis and relevant staging should be completed within 2 weeks of the initial specialist appointment |
|
Multidisciplinary meeting and treatment planning |
All newly diagnosed patients should be discussed in a multidisciplinary team meeting before starting treatment |
|
|
Treatment |
Surgery |
Surgery should occur within 4 weeks of the MDM, provided the patient is medically fit |
|
Radiation therapy |
Radiation therapy should begin within 6 weeks of the MDM if primary treatment and within 8 weeks following surgery if adjuvant treatment |
|
|
Systemic therapy |
Systemic therapy should begin within 6 weeks of the MDM if a primary treatment and within 8 weeks following surgery if adjuvant treatment Systemic therapy is often given in conjunction with radiotherapy in an adjuvant setting For patients who have adjuvant chemotherapy, radiation therapy should begin 3–4 weeks after chemotherapy |
Seven steps of the optimal care pathway
Step 1: Prevention and early detection
Step 2: Presentation, initial investigations and referral
Step 3: Diagnosis, staging and treatment planning
Step 4: Treatment
Step 5: Care after initial treatment and recovery
Step 6: Managing recurrent, residual or metastatic disease
Step 7: End-of-life care
Approximately 95 per cent of uterine cancer cases are endometrial cancer (Cancer Australia 2020b). The estimated number of new cases of uterine cancer diagnosed in Australia in 2019 is 3,115. In 2019, it was estimated that the risk of a female being diagnosed with uterine cancer by the age of 85 years is one in 40 (Cancer Australia 2020b).
The pathway describes the optimal cancer care that should be provided at each step for women with endometrial cancer.
