Article Text

Download PDFPDF
Patient Support Groups Identifying Clinical Equipoise in UK Gynaecological Oncology Surgeons as the Basis for Trials in Ultraradical Surgery for Advanced Ovarian Cancer
  1. Raj Naik, MD, FRCOG*,
  2. Louise Bayne,
  3. Christina Founta*,
  4. Sean Kehoe,
  5. Gordon Rustin§ and
  6. Christina Fotopoulou
  1. *Northern Gynaecological Oncology Centre, Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Gateshead Health NHS Foundation Trust;
  2. Ovacome–The Ovarian Cancer Support Network;
  3. School of Cancer Sciences, University of Birmingham, Birmingham;
  4. §Mount Vernon Cancer Centre, Northwood; and
  5. Ovarian Cancer Action Research Centre, Department of Surgery and Cancer, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom.
  1. Address correspondence and reprint requests to Raj Naik, MD, FRCOG, NGOC Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Queen Elizabeth Ave, Sheriff Hill, NE9 6SX, United Kingdom. E-mail: raj.naik@ghnt.nhs.uk.

Abstract

Abstract “Clinical equipoise” is defined as the genuine uncertainty by the expert medical community of the most beneficial treatment. A survey performed in 2013 by a patient support group, Ovacome, of gynaecological oncologists in the UK on ultra-radical surgery in advanced ovarian cancer has shown that there is a wide variation in surgical practice across the country. In addition, there were mixed views on the quality of published evidence justifying it’s performance, signifying a state of clinical equipoise. The survey also identified widespread insufficient infra-structural resources and lack of surgical training and skills. The majority of respondents would be prepared to undertake additional training to acquire the surgical skills and/or refer to other centres/surgeons already performing the surgery and/or recruit to surgical trials investigating ultra-radical surgery in advanced ovarian cancer.

  • Surgery
  • Ultraradical surgery
  • Ovarian cancer
  • Clinical equipoise
  • Personal equipoise
  • Patient support groups
  • Trials
  • Survey

Statistics from Altmetric.com

Request Permissions

If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways.

Footnotes

  • The authors declare no conflicts of interest.