Location: United Kingdom
C the Signs is a platform that doctors can use to identify patients at risk from cancer. Detecting cancer earlier increases the patient’s chance of survival.
According to the NHS, 50% of people will develop a type of cancer in their lifetime. If diagnosed in the early stages, patients have an 80% chance of survival. However, if diagnosed in the late stages, as half of the patients are, their chance of survival drops to 20%.
It’s difficult to detect cancer in the early stages because of indistinct signs, or often a lack of a tell-tale symptom to focus on and test. There are hundreds of malignancies, and many have a collection of symptoms that are similar to other health conditions.
C the Signs is a tool that helps healthcare professionals identify possible signs of cancers early on and know what to test. The service is available on the website, by mobile app, or integrated with some electronic health record (EHR) providers.
GPs are prompted to select the body systems they are concerned about, such as chest or heart, and enter the patient’s age and gender. They are provided with a list of risk factors and symptoms to select if they apply to that patient. Once submitted, the platform automatically offers recommendations for what cancer it could be and suggests investigations such as blood tests or x-rays. Doctors can also use the tool to search by symptoms the patient is experiencing rather than body systems. Doctors in the NHS are currently using C the Signs
“C the Signs brings together all the vital information from a key guideline here in the UK – NICE NG12: Suspected cancer and referral. NICE provides national guidance and advice for healthcare professionals and created an 80-page document to direct doctors to undertake the best evidence-backed actions.
What the founders have developed here is an easy-to-use interface and platform that doctors in primary care can use while in consultation with patients. Their algorithms and technology make this process much easier than referring to the document, which can be complex, given the numerous presentations of cancer.” — Dr Vinay Shankar
Website: https://cthesigns.co.uk/
Email: info@cthesigns.co.uk