NCCN Guidelines® vs CeDAR

The National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®), is pleased to present the Virtual Library of NCCN Guidelines® app formatted for iPhone & iPad. This easy-to-use and convenient format will further assist health care professionals in their implementation of the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines®), thus improving the quality and effectiveness of care provided to patients with cancer. NCCN is a not-for-profit alliance of leading cancer centers devoted to patient care, research, and education. NCCN is dedicated to improving and facilitating quality, effective, efficient, and accessible cancer care so patients can live better lives. Through the leadership and expertise of clinical professionals at NCCN Member Institutions, NCCN develops resources that present valuable information to the numerous stakeholders in the health care delivery system. By defining and advancing high-quality cancer care, NCCN promotes the importance of continuous quality improvement and recognizes the significance of creating clinical practice guidelines appropriate for use by patients, clinicians, and other health care decision-makers around the world. Over the past 25 years, NCCN has developed an integrated suite of tools to improve the quality of cancer care. The NCCN Guidelines® document evidence-based, consensus-driven management to ensure that all patients receive preventive, diagnostic, treatment, and supportive services that are most likely to lead to optimal outcomes. The NCCN Guidelines are a comprehensive set of guidelines detailing the sequential management decisions and interventions that apply to 97 percent of cancer cases in the United States. In addition, separate guidelines relate to major prevention and screening topics and another set of pathways focuses on the major supportive care areas. The NCCN Guidelines provide recommendations based on the best evidence available at the time they are derived. Because new data are published continuously, it is essential that the NCCN Guidelines also be continuously updated and revised to reflect new data and new clinical information. The intent of the NCCN Guidelines is to assist in the decision-making process of individuals involved in cancer care—including physicians, nurses, pharmacists, payers, patients and their families—with the ultimate goal of improving patient care and outcomes. The NCCN Guidelines provide recommendations for appropriate care for most but not all patients; however, individual patient circumstances must be considered when applying these recommendations. Visit NCCN.org to learn more about the NCCN Guidelines as well as other NCCN Content.

Hernia repairs are among the most common operations performed in the world. Historically, quality was measured almost solely by recurrence rates. Now that routine mesh use has made these repairs much more durable, wound problems after surgery are the major reason for increased cost of surgery, including the added cost of other procedures, hospital stays and clinic visits because of wound problems up to a year after hernia repair. Because of their wounds, these patients often are not able to work and lose time and money because of specialty wound care, travel, clinic visits and/or hospital stays. We believe assessing and understanding a patient's preoperative health status can significantly impact postoperative outcomes. The Carolinas Equation for Determining Associated Risks (CeDAR) predicts the risks and financial impact of wound-related problems following ventral hernia repair. The complex mathematical equation, which was calculated from data taken from patients around the world after their surgery, has been independently tested and found to be accurate and reliable. With the aid of mobile app technology, CeDAR now provides surgeons and patients with a powerful tool that can predict individualized wound outcomes after abdominal hernia surgery. Moreover, it offers patients detailed educational materials about many types of hernias and their treatments. Users simply answer eight questions about themselves, including height and weight. Based on these answers, a percentage chance of developing specific postoperative complications requiring treatment is calculated along with the corresponding cost of this treatment. These results can then be used to discuss an individual patient's risk for wound problems after surgery and what they can change to improve their odds for a good result.