pathway

Hi Dodgetthebullet

Thanks for getting in touch and welcome to the online community.

My name is Paula and I am one of the Cancer Information Nurse Specialists on the Macmillan Support Line.

It is always difficult understanding medical terminology when you’re not familiar with the words used. I hope the information below will help.

Here at Macmillan, we can give general advice and support. We are independent from the NHS and don’t have access to medical records so cannot give personalised information.

Before any test and investigation are requested, an individual would normally report their symptoms to their General Practitioner (GP). Depending on the problem, if the GP suspects an abnormality like a cancer they would refer that individual for test under the cancer pathway.

The pathway is a national referral guideline for GP’s to use when deciding whether it’s appropriate for the referral to be done based on symptoms.

The pathway enables a person to be seen by a specialist doctor quickly and given an early diagnosis if possible. One such test done within this pathway would be a biopsy.

A biopsy is a test that is normally undertake if the doctor needs more information to rule out any abnormality. A biopsy sample from the suspicious area is then sent to a pathologist laboratory to be examined under the microscope to check for any abnormality.

It’s important to remember most people within the pathway don’t have cancer. Therefore, if the biopsy results are normal the person will be taken off the cancer pathway. The GP would continue to do any further follow up care.

I hope this information has been helpful, please don’t hesitate to get back in touch.

You can always give us a call. You can talk to one of our nurses on the support line. It’s a free phone number on 0808 808 0000 and we are here 7 days a week, 8am-8pm or email us. 

Ref: PW/PL