1218P - Exploring cancer care pathways in seven European countries: Identifying obstacles and opportunities for the role of artificial intelligence

Background

Cancer is considered a leading cause of mortality and morbidity worldwide. This study constitutes one part of the user requirement definition of INCISIVE EU project. The project has been designed to explore the full potential of artificial intelligence (AI)-based technologies in cancer imaging. The study aimed to map cancer care pathways (breast, prostate, colorectal and lung cancers) across INCISIVE partner countries, and identify obstacles within these pathways.

Methods

A qualitative research approach employing email interviews was used. A purposive sampling strategy was employed to recruit ten oncology specialised healthcare professionals from INCISIVE partner countries: Greece, Cyprus, Spain, Italy, Finland, United Kingdom (UK) and Serbia. Data was collected between December 2020 and April 2021. Data was entered into Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to allow content and comparative analysis. Appropriate ethical approval was obtained for this study.

Results

Delays in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer was evident from all the pathways studied. With the exception of the UK, none of the countries studied had official national data regarding delays in cancer diagnosis and treatment. There was a considerable variation in the availability of imaging and diagnostic services across the seven countries that were analysed. Several concerns were also noted for national screening for the four investigated cancer types.

Conclusions

Delays in the diagnosis and treatment of cancer remain challenging issues that need to be addressed. To effectively address these challenges, it is crucial to have a systematic reporting of diagnostic and therapeutic delays in all countries. Proper estimation of the magnitude of the problem is essential, as no problem can be effectively tackled without an accurate understanding of its magnitude. Our findings also support the orientation of the current policies towards early detection and wide scale adoption and implementation of cancer screening, through research, innovation, and technology. Technologies involving AI can have a great potential to revolutionise cancer care delivery.

Clinical trial identification

Editorial acknowledgement

Legal entity responsible for the study

INCISIVE Consortium.

Funding

EU Horizion 2020.

Disclosure

All authors have declared no conflicts of interest.