Interspecialty referral of oesophagogastric and pharyngolaryngeal cancers delays diagnosis and reduces patient survival: A matched case-control study.

An interspecialty cancer referral occurs in a significant proportion of patients with foregut cancers. It almost triples the time to cancer diagnosis and is associated with a high incidence of missed cancers and diminished patient survival. It is a complex phenomenon, and its reduction requires an integrated approach between primary and secondary care, and within secondary care, to optimise referral pathways and ensure appropriate and expeditious specialist evaluation.