International Adaptations of NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology

Abstract

The NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) are evidence-and consensus-based clinical practice guidelines addressing malignancies that affect more than 97% of all patients with cancer in the United States. The NCCN Guidelines are used extensively in the United States and globally. Use of the guidelines outside the United States has driven the need to adapt the guidelines based on local, regional, or national resources. The NCCN Guidelines Panels created, vetted, and continually update the NCCN Guidelines based on published scientific data on cancer detection, diagnosis, and treatment efficacy. The guidelines are developed within the context of commonly available resources, methods of payment, societal and cultural expectations, and governmental regulations as they exist in the United States. Although many of the cancer management recommendations contained in the NCCN Guidelines apply broadly from a global perspective, not all do. Disparities in availability and access to health care exist among countries, within countries, and among different social groups in the same country, especially regarding resources for cancer prevention, early detection, and treatment. In addition, different drug approval and payment processes result in regional variation in availability of and access to cancer treatment, especially highly expensive agents and radiation therapy. Differences in cancer risk, predictive biomarker expression, and pharmacogenetics exist across ethnic and racial groups, and therefore across geographic locations. Cultural and societal expectations and requirements may also require modification of NCCN Guidelines for use outside the United States. This article describes the adaptation process, using the recent Latin American adaptation of the 2013 NCCN Guidelines for Colorectal Cancer as an example. (J Natl Compr Canc Netw 2014;12:643-648) NCCN has developed a comprehensive set of clinical practice guidelines across the continuum of cancer care to assist health care professionals and patients in making clinical decisions. The current set of NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology (NCCN Guidelines) cover the malignancies that affect more than 97% of all patients with cancer in the United States and a variety of supportive care issues. The NCCN Guidelines are widely recognized as the standard for clinical policy in oncology in the United States and are used in the academic and community settings. The NCCN Guidelines are available in multiple formats and derivatives, and are used at the point of care for decision-making, in making payment decisions by third-party payers, as standards for quality of care assessment, and as educational tools.The NCCN Guidelines are developed by multidisciplinary panels of disease experts and patient advocates from the 25 NCCN Member Institutions. The panels use an evidence-based consensus process of guideline development, wherein recommendations are based on high-level evidence when available, and on expert consensus when high-level evidence...

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