15th January 2021 Missed our free GatewayC webinar on Diagnosing Ovarian Cancer? Watch our recording here. In this webinar, GatewayC met Professor Gordon Jayson, Professor of Medical Oncology at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust, who answered key questions from our...
Cancer Keys: MSCC Red Flags
Latest from the Blog
NEW COURSE: Managing Physical Effects
Tuesday 5th January 2021 We are delighted to announce that the new Managing Physical Effects course is now available on GatewayC. According to Macmillan, at least 1 in 4 patients will experience consequences of their cancer or treatment that affect their quality of...
Related Posts
Cancer Keys: COVID-19 and Neutropenic Sepsis
Neutropenic sepsis is a potentially fatal complication of anticancer treatment (particularly chemotherapy). Helpful hint: NICE have produced a COVID-19 rapid guideline on the delivery of systemic anticancer treatments. If patients present with COVID-19 symptoms this...
Cancer Keys: Pancreatic Cancer and New-Onset Diabetes
Potential pitfall: In the early course of the disease, pancreatic cancer may not cause any signs or symptoms. However, sudden onset diabetes in groups of patients for whom this would be unexpected can be an early indicator. Helpful hint: NICE NG12 guidelines recommend...

Potential pitfall:
Metastatic spinal cord compression (MSCC) is a medical emergency which can result in paralysis. Many patients living with cancer have pain; within primary care it can difficult to differentiate between significant pain which may be due to MSCC, and pain which is attributable to a simple bone metastasis.
Helpful hint:
Lung, prostate, renal and breast cancer can commonly spread to the spine. GPs with any suspicion of MSCC should send the patient to a local facility (A&E or a medical assessment unit) for assessment and an urgent MRI scan.
Red flags include:
- Patients describing their pain as a different kind to what they are used to
- Pain that wakes the patient at night or increases when lying down
- Pain on sneezing, straining or going to the toilet
- Radiating pain
- Tenderness that corresponds to the area of pain
Cancer Keys are brought to you by GatewayC.
Download this Cancer Key here
Access GatewayC’s ‘Lung Cancer – End of Life’ course here
Read NICE ‘s guidance on metastatic spinal cord compression in adults here