Lijecnicki vjesnik 2018;140(3-4)
GUIDELINES FOR USAGE OF DIAGNOSTIC PROCEDURES PRIOR TO INITIATION OF ANTINEOPLASTIC TREATMENT – CROATIAN SOCIETY FOR MEDICAL ONCOLOGY CLINICAL RECOMMENDATIONS
Natalija Dedić Plavetić, Tajana Silovski, Ana Tečić Vuger, Mirjana Pavlović, Ljubica Vazdar, Davorin Herceg, Luka Simetić, Filip Grubišić Čabo, Marko Jakopović, Gordana Horvatić-Herceg, Ivo Pedišić, Tonko Herceg, Robert Šeparović, Damir Vrbanec
Abstract
Summary. Cancer is the second most important cause of death in our country, immediately after cardiovascular diseases. With the assumption that cancer incidence and mortality will increase in the next years, projections show that the costs of diagnosis and treatment of cancer will be significantly increased, both due to the introduction of new diagnostic techniques and innovative medicines and treatment methods. Consequently, the imperative of making optimal use of financial resources, available personnel and techniques is all the more necessary in order to ensure the continuity of adequate diagnosis and treatment. Optimal use of diagnostic methods can prevent unnecessary processing delay, waste of financial resources and unnecessary burden on healthcare workers, and shorten waiting lists. HDIO has made these guidelines with the aim of overcoming these problems, rationalizing and standardizing diagnostic procedures in everyday clinical practice. These guidelines should help us to select, from the entire range of diagnostic procedures available, those which are most relevant to a particular localization and clinical extension of the disease.