UK cancer research 'leading the way'
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Tuesday, 03, Jun 2008 12:47
UK cancer research is leading the way in developing guidance for the treatment of cancer patients, according to new research.
A study published in the British Journal of Cancer reviewed 43 clinical guidelines for cancer from the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (Nice) and the Scottish Medical Consortium.
These guidelines form the basis of the clinical care given to cancer patients and are devised from an evidence base which includes peer-reviewed research.
The research team analysed over 3,000 references which were cited across almost 800 research papers over a period of 25 years.
They found that papers from UK-based cancer researchers are cited nearly three times more often than would be expected.
Researchers from universities, hospitals and institutes based in Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Glasgow were the most frequently cited.
Lead author Professor Richard Sullivan said the findings show that cancer research in the UK is "punching above its weight".
"Even taking into account the fact that UK clinical guidelines are inevitably going to be skewed in favour of UK-based research because of the make-up of our healthcare services, we still found that the impact of UK cancer research on clinical practice was disproportionately higher than would be expected – which is a credit to the exceptionally strong research base that we have in this country," he added.
"We also found indirect evidence that UK cancer research has as impact internationally - particularly in Western Europe."
Kate Law, director of clinical trials at Cancer Research UK, said the research "highlights the importance of clinical trials carried out in this country".
"Nice is seen to be a world leader in the development of quality, evidence based guidelines for cancer care, so it's crucial that the government and NHS work together to ensure that these guidelines are being uniformly implemented across the country so that all cancer patients can benefit from them," she commented.