Suspicious symptoms of cancer and treatment

  For the second week in a row, the BMJ published this upgraded NICE guideline in two parts, one for suspicious symptoms and management of childhood and adolescent cancers and the second for suspicious symptoms and management of adult cancers. Interestingly, the BMJ provides the corresponding clinical pathways in graphic illustrations, see the charts below. For those who need the tabular descriptions, they can be found on the official BMJ website.  Suspicious symptoms and management of cancer in children and adolescents: blue-green, evaluation by a primary care physician is sufficient; purple: referral within 2 weeks; orange, referral within 48 hours; pink, immediate referral.  Possible symptoms and management of cancer in adults: pink, referral for suspicious cancer pathway (within 2 weeks); orange, referral to a specialist but not urgent; purple, urgent assessment (within 48 hours); blue, assessment as soon as possible (within 2 weeks); green, non-urgent assessment.