Analysis of iatrogenic factors related to delay in diagnosis of metastatic bone tumor

Objective To investigate the clinical iatrogenllic factors related to delay in diagnosis of metastatic bone tumor and provide evidences for treatment and prevention in patients metastatic bone tumor.Method From January 2006 to November 2011,a total 126 patients with metastatic bone tumor in Qiannan autonomous prefecture for Buyi and Miao Nationalities Hospital were studied.These factors included sex,age,the first diagnosed symptom,the rank of first diagnosed hospital,first diagnosed department,having pathological examination or not,length of time from the first clinical visit to adopting pathological diagnosis,the number of clinical departments visited,taking any treatment before and so on.For iatrogenic(professional) delay,stepwise multiple logistic regression analysis were applied to analyze the correlation between the professional delay in diagnosis and possible related clinical factors.Results The rate of delay in diagnosis was 72.2%(91/126) whether adopting pathological diagnosis at the first clinical management,length of time from the first clinical visit to adopting pathological diagnosis,number of clinical department visited and whether taking any treatment before definitive diagnosis had significant influence on the delay.Conclusion Taking pathological diagnosis at the first clinical visit,shortening the time from the first visit to pathological diagnosis and less undirected treatment can reduce the iatrogenic delay.