NCCN Guidelines® vs ATA Calculator

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.

The American Thyroid Association has developed thyroid nodule calculators to provide guidance and recommendations for particular practice areas concerning thyroid disease and thyroid cancer. The Calculators are not inclusive of all proper approaches or methods, or exclusive of others. The Calculators do not establish a standard of care and specific outcomes are not guaranteed. Treatment decisions must be made based on the independent judgment of health care providers and each patient’s individual circumstances. A calculator is not intended to take the place of physician judgment in diagnosing and treatment of particular patients. The ATA calculators are based on the evidence available in the literature and the expert opinion of ATA members in the recent timeframe of the development of calculators. Management issues have not been and cannot be comprehensively addressed in randomized trials; therefore, the evidence cannot be comprehensive. Calculators cannot always account for individual variation among patients. Calculators cannot be considered inclusive of all proper methods of care or exclusive of other treatments reasonably directed at obtaining the same results. Therefore, the American Thyroid Association considers adherence to these calculations to be voluntary, with the ultimate determination regarding its application to be made by the treating physician and health care professionals with the full consideration of the individual patient’s clinical history and physical status. In addition, the calculator concerns the therapeutic interventions used in clinical practice and do not pertain to clinical trials. Clinical trials are a separate matter, designed to research new and novel therapies, and the calculators are not necessarily relevant to their purpose.