Patient Experience of Pancreatic cyst Surveillance (PEPS)
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Understanding patient experience of premalignant pancreatic cystic lesion surveillance prior to development of an intervention to improve current care.
IRAS ID
256922
Contact name
Ruth Reeve
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Southampton
Duration of Study in the UK
1 years, 6 months, 1 days
Research summary
A pancreatic cyst is a fluid-filled sac found within the pancreas. Some pancreatic cysts contain cells that can turn into cancer over time. It is important to watch these cysts that are most often incidental and asymptomatic to see which ones pose a risk of becoming pancreatic cancer.
Pancreatic cysts are watched under surveillance for many years. There are no national rules to recommend how to watch these cysts, making management plans difficult for hospitals. Although diagnosing pancreatic cysts could potentially help stop the development of pancreatic cancer, it also means there is more work required from both patients and clinicians. Currently management involves at least yearly scans for a number of years looking for any worrying change.
Precancerous conditions create anxiety for patients, and it is important to consider patients’ experiences of living with this type diagnosis when developing any surveillance system that patients enter. This study will involve face-to-face interviews with approximately 30 patients under surveillance for pancreatic cystic lesions. To ensure the study captures representative experiences of different PCL pathways patients will be sampled by pathway. Recruitment will occur in 2 sites using different surveillance methods, patients will be invited at different time points within the surveillance pathway including: following diagnosis, following first surveillance test and following a longer period of surveillance. Interviews will be analysed using thematic analysis, to identify and analyse themes within the rich qualitative data. Results will be combined with the findings of preceding literature reviews to develop recommendations and potential interventions that could begin to improve care for patients who are diagnosed with and under surveillance for PCL.
REC name
East of England - Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
19/EE/0267
Date of REC Opinion
16 Oct 2019
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion