Vol 135 No 1556: 10 June 2022

All the cancer you cannot see

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in New Zealand with 1,700 deaths each year. More New Zealanders die of lung cancer than of breast cancer, prostate cancer and melanoma combined. Between 2008–2017, lung cancer was diagnosed in 43:100,000 Māori and 13:100,000 non-Māori/non-Pacific New Zealanders; a number we need to keep in mind as we look at the information on lung cancer in this edition of the journal.

Clinical quality indicators of pathways to oncological lung surgery

In New Zealand between 2014 and 2017, 9,093 patients were diagnosed with lung and tracheal malignancy. At a regional level, the Southern District Health Board (SDHB) has a catchment of over 350,000 patients, covering the Otago and Southland regions.

The impact of COVID-19 on lung cancer detection, diagnosis and treatment for Māori in Aotearoa New Zealand | OPEN ACCESS

Early in the pandemic, New Zealand’s national Cancer Control Agency, Te Aho o Te Kahu, engaged widely with clinicians, researchers and other stakeholders to plan the cancer-related response to the anticipated upheavals to usual healthcare provision caused by COVID-19.

Early diagnosis of surgically curable lung cancer is commonly serendipitous

Most patients with lung cancer present with advanced disease and are offered palliative treatment. Approximately 20% of New Zealand patients with newly diagnosed lung cancer are treated surgically.

Acute respiratory infection risk associated with exposure to outdoor PM{{10}} emissions from domestic heating

In New Zealand’s South Island, where the coldest winters are experienced, 47% of the population uses woodburners for home heating. Wood has some advantages over electricity, including higher heat output, the ability to scavenge or barter for material, and independence from the power grid. However, in some towns, domestic woodsmoke is the primary driver of winter outdoor air pollution, with daily average concentrations of particulate matter less than 10 µm (PM{{10}}) frequently exceeding the 50 µm/m National Environmental Standard for Air Quality.

“There is a huge need, and it's growing endlessly”: perspectives of mental health service providers to ethnic Chinese in Aotearoa New Zealand

Despite being Aotearoa New Zealand’s fourth-largest ethnic group (270,100; almost 6% of the population), little is currently known about the experiences of ethnic Chinese patients accessing mental health services in Aotearoa. Ethnic Chinese in Aotearoa form a diverse, culturally-heterogenous group, with these differences driven by distinct waves in migration from differing parts of Asia over the last 150 years. Around three quarters are overseas-born, and approximately 50% are recent immigrants who have been in Aotearoa less than 10 years.

Expansion and consolidation of fracture liaison service in New Zealand public healthcare setting – Waitematā District Health Board Experience

The fracture liaison service (FLS) is a comprehensive secondary fracture prevention programme that has been adopted and implemented internationally, where fragility fracture patients are systematically identified, assessed and managed with the intention of minimising the risk of future fractures. FLSs have been shown to be cost-effective, and FLSs around the globe are supported and evaluated by the International Osteoporosis Foundation (IOF) under their Capture the Fracture® (CTF) initiative on the basis of 13 key performance indicators.

Hospital based specialists’ perspectives of teleconsultation use during the COVID-19 pandemic | OPEN ACCESS

There have been studies investigating the role of teleconsultation during the COVID-19 pandemic. Among strategies that reduce infection transmission including wearing face masks, sneezing/coughing into elbow and hand hygiene, researchers have reported teleconsultation to be an effective way of minimising virus transmission via avoiding person-to-person contact while still providing care to patients.

Delayed diagnosis of HIV infection in women in the Auckland and Northland regions

Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) has dramatically improved the life expectancy for people with HIV (PWH). The early diagnosis of HIV infection and subsequent early initiation of ART is associated with significant health benefits and the prevention of HIV transmission.

Barriers to optimal stroke service care and solutions: a qualitative study engaging people with stroke and their whānau | OPEN ACCESS

In Aotearoa, inequities in access to hospital-based stroke care occur by ethnicity and geography. Our recent research shows that patients presenting to non-urban hospitals and Māori experience major access barriers and worst patient outcomes.

Digital solutions for providing patients access to hospital-held health information: what are the design issues that need to be addressed?

With the increased digitisation of hospital health records across Aotearoa New Zealand, providing patients with access to their hospital-held health information should become easier. It is well known that patients want access to the health information stored by health services as well as the ability to correct any inaccuracies in the information.

Symptomatic hypercalcaemia following the use of calcium sulfate beads in periprosthetic joint infections

We present the case of a 76-year-old woman who developed symptomatic hypercalcaemia following the insertion of CSBs for a periprosthetic joint infection.

Management dilemma in metastatic papillary thyroid carcinoma

Papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) is the most common type of well differentiated thyroid cancer. Thyroid cancer affects over 300 individuals in New Zealand every year with an incidence of 5.2 per 100,000 population.

A short review of bone surgery: fractures and their treatment

In the last decade of last century and in the first of this the great development of operative surgery drew the surgeon’s attention from the treatment of fractures.

Proceedings of the New Zealand Society for the Study of Diabetes Annual Conference May 13–14 2022, Wellington