title: Role of expert centres in the management of sarcomas--a UK perspective.
abstract: Sarcomas are a rare group of tumours with many differing behaviours and histologies. The generally poor outcomes for patients with sarcoma have not significantly improved over recent years in the United Kingdom. The reasons for this are multi-factorial but delayed diagnosis plays an important role. Developing patient pathways and clinical guidelines is critical to improving patient outcomes as well as raising awareness of sarcoma in primary and secondary care. Expert centres play a key role in diagnosis and the complex multimodality treatment of sarcoma; furthermore centralising of care is critical to improving outcomes as this where multidisciplinary expertise is concentrated. In this review we explore the current role of the expert centre from a United Kingdom (UK) perspective and compare and contrast this with practice elsewhere.
authors.affiliation: Sarcoma Unit, Royal Marsden Hospital, Fulham Road, London SW3 6JJ, UK. Electronic address: Charlotte.benson@rmh.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Charlotte
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Benson
authors.affiliation: Sarcoma Unit, Royal Marsden Hospital, Fulham Road, London SW3 6JJ, UK.
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Judson
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic; D012509:Sarcoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006113:United Kingdom
keywords: Clinical guidelines; Expert centres; Multidisciplinary teams; Sarcoma