Family doctors take more than a month to record 10% of ovarian cancer cases, according to British study.

In order to get good information on who gets cancer and to advance research, it is important that accurate and timely records be kept by physicians. This action ensures accurate dates of diagnosis and referrals, and it is integral for separating accurate diagnoses from false ones. A study in the British Medical Journal, however, indicates that in one out of ten cases of ovarian cancer, family physicians take over a month to record the diagnosis into a national system. Furthermore, 11% of the recorded cases had been incorrectly or prematurely diagnosed.  The study points out the value of the additional information available in the written records of physicians.