The Sussex Cancer Fund is always keen to support cancer research projects where ever we can. However, our limited resources mean we can’t fund as many projects as we would like, that being said we can often find a way, even if just in a very small way, to show our support. This could be by part-funding a project, buying consumables, or even as in the case of Dr. Yu-Hsuen Yang, paying for printing costs.We also like to hear about and promote the fantastic research going on in Sussex, continue reading to hear about Dr. Yang’s project to improve patient outcomes by looking at ways to accelerate diagnostic pathways.
The Project
Dr. Yu-Hsuen Yang is a current internal medicine year 1 trainee at the Royal Sussex County Hospital. He is pursuing a career as a clinical academic in translational oncology.
Yu-Hsuen recently attended the British Thoracic Oncology Group (BTOG) 2023 conference to present results from an important audit at UHSussex. BTOG is a national organisation aimed at disseminating and promoting best practice in lung cancer care and is now established in its 21st year of existence. Lung cancer therapy has been transformed during this time, particularly through the identification of molecular targets such as EGFR (Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor), often termed the ‘Achilles heel’ of some lung cancers.
The project was conceived by Dr. Kamarul Zaki and Dr. Anna Britten, consultant medical and clinical oncologists, in order to examine the ‘turnaround times’ for obtaining molecular targets in lung adenocarcinoma. As the trust has recently transitioned to a genomics laboratory hub approach, utilising the Southeast hub based at Guy’s and St Thomas’ hospital, the project aimed to identify if this new pathway could identify these targets in an effective and timely manner to improve patient outcomes.
Yu-Hsuen led the project, working together with the histopathology department (led by Dr. Catherine Guy) and other trainees (Dr. Sarah Reeves, Dr. Beth Whittle, Dr. Harry Gilliam, and Dr. Cheng Pou Chan) to collect and analyse key metrics.
The audit demonstrated that the new approach, although effective, was subject to significant delays. The team will therefore be taking this forward as a multi-cycle quality improvement project to accelerate this diagnostic pathway to improve patient outcomes.
The team is grateful to the Sussex Cancer Fund for their generous support and has received funding for poster printing costs.
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