Compliance with guidelines for blc

Cynthia, you got my attention! That's sadly too true but still pretty amusing. Thanks for my good laugh of the day.

So we need a tecnical reading as well as a laymans reading?

I was looking at this as a newly announced cancer patient. Looking at this (non invasive) treatment procedure, I can see that the Generic non technical article makes sense to our new lurkers.

We have seen and heard of people on this site that have had just such treatment...... bad. Even when you try to steer them to a great specialist, they believe their nice Dr. will know it all.

This technical article is great for our avid readers.
But switching over to "bladder cancer patients get crummy care" makes the case very well to the newbie.
Doug posted this in Chit Chat under the heading "Bladder cancer news"
George

While trying to find the CBS story on bladder cancer, I came across this news report about the study referenced above.

It may be easier to understand this than it is to understand the abstract of the study: www.cbs3springfield.com/story/15066137/bladder-cancer-patients-not-getting-recommended-care-study

Hope this helps....

Mike

WOW!!!!!

This is why "My doctor seems nice and very knowledgeable" is not good enough. Understanding the guidelines is important.

Very interesting...

They don't mention the specific guidelines, but I am assuming they are referring to the NCCN guidelines for bladder cancer treatment.

If anybody wants to know what they are, I've posted them before, but here is the link: www.nccn.org/professionals/physician_gls/PDF/bladder.pdf
(The site for the link above requires you to set up a login and does NOT require payment).

My treatment guide for patients attempts to simplify this, and could well be an oversimplification, can be found here: bladdercancersupport.org/images/Bladder%20Cancer%20Treatment%20Guide%20v4.pdf .

I would suggest that newly diagnosed (and anyone with a recurrence or progression) print one or both of these out and use it as a guide for discussions with your doctor.

If they are recommending a different course of treatment than the standard, you want to understand why and how "their" plan stacks up in terms of cure rate, complications, longevity, etc. versus the standard.

Mike