National survey sampling exercise on current practice in channelled local anaesthetic biopsy in suspected head and neck cancer

ObjectiveOut-patient channelled endoscopic local anaesthetic biopsy reduces the time to diagnosis and wider use may improve cancer pathway times. This study aimed to assess the practice of ENT surgeons using channelled local anaesthetic biopsy.MethodA survey was distributed nationally, containing questions about out-patient local anaesthetic biopsy.ResultsIn total, 58 responses were returned; only 12 per cent of respondents (n = 7) used general anaesthetic biopsy. The advantages of local anaesthetic biopsy were: the avoidance of general anaesthetic for patients with poor performance scores (95 per cent, n = 55) and faster cancer pathway times (91 per cent, n = 53). Disadvantages were: clinics running late (29 per cent, n = 17) and complications (24 per cent, n = 14). The main barrier to using local anaesthetic was access to channelled flexible endoscopy (38 per cent, n = 22), with 43 per cent (n = 25) reporting they were not using out-patient channelled endoscopes but would be interested in using them.ConclusionSurgeons are interested in using channelled endoscopic local anaesthetic biopsy, but they are limited by access to equipment. Increased use of channelled endoscopes may improve national cancer pathway times and avoid challenging general anaesthetics.