Brian D Nicholson
BSc MBChB MRCGP MSc (Health Res) DPhil
GP NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer
- NHS General Practitioner
- Macmillan GP Facilitator - Oxfordshire
- Affiliate Investigator - KPWHRI
- Associate Editor - Family Practice
Contact information
+44 (0)1865 289300
Diagnosis and Cancer in Primary Care
Brian's academic interests include cancer, global health, and evidence-based diagnosis.
His research aims to improve diagnosis for patients with non-specific or vague symptoms of cancer. In particular investigating weight loss as a feature of cancer in GP patients (NIHR - LOWCAN), novel multidisciplinary models of care (ACE - SCAN), and the role of safety-netting in preventing missed opportunities for diagnosis (CRUK - CASNET/CASNET2/NETTD).
He evaluates how GPs can safely use tests to diagnose primary and recurrent cancer, including circulating DNA, Carcinoembryonic Antigen (CEA), Faecal Immunochemical Testing (FIT), and Cancer Antigen 125 (CA125). He collaborates with secondary care colleagues about myeloma, lymphoma, testicular cancer, colorectal cancer, and ovarian cancer.
He is a GP in Oxford City, and the Macmillan GP Facilitator for Oxfordshire working with Oxfordshire CCG and Thames Valley Cancer Alliance to improve local pathways for cancer diagnosis.
He has received funding from NIHR, NIHR SPCR, CRUK, Macmillan, and NHS England. He sits on the NCRI Primary Care Clinical Studies Groups for early diagnosis and survivorship, the ICBP clinical advisory committee, and CRUK's Population Research Committee.
Key publications
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Detecting cancer in primary care: Where does early diagnosis stop and overdiagnosis begin?
Journal article
(2017), European Journal of Cancer Care, 26
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Prioritising primary care patients with unexpected weight loss for cancer investigation: a diagnostic accuracy study using routinely collected electronic health records data from 63,973 patients
Journal article
NICHOLSON B. et al, (2020), BMJ: British Medical Journal
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Can safety-netting improve cancer detection in patients with vague symptoms?
Journal article
Nicholson BD. et al, (2016), BMJ (Online), 355
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Responsibility for follow-up during the diagnostic process in primary care: A secondary analysis of International Cancer Benchmarking Partnership data
Journal article
Nicholson BD. et al, (2018), British Journal of General Practice, 68, e323 - e332
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Diagnostic accuracy of Faecal Immunochemical Testing for patients with symptoms of colorectal cancer: a retrospective cohort study of 14,487 consecutive test requests from English primary care.
Journal article
Nicholson BD. et al, (2020)
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Blood CEA levels for detecting recurrent colorectal cancer
Journal article
Nicholson BD. et al, (2015), Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, 2015
Recent publications
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Electronic cigarettes as a smoking cessation aid for patients with cancer: beliefs and behaviours of clinicians in the UK
Journal article
Brett J. et al, (2020), BMJ Open, 10, e037637 - e037637
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Letter: extending FIT from DG30 to NG12 patients. Letter: faecal immunochemical testing for adults with symptoms of colorectal cancer – ready for prime time? Authors' reply: a unified approach to safety netting negative FITs is required
Journal article
Nicholson BD. et al, (2020), Alimentary Pharmacology and Therapeutics, 52, 1420 - 1421
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CASNET2: evaluation of an electronic safety netting cancer toolkit for the primary care electronic health record: protocol for a pragmatic stepped-wedge RCT
Journal article
Fleming S. et al, (2020), BMJ open, 10
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Prioritising primary care patients with unexpected weight loss for cancer investigation: a diagnostic accuracy study using routinely collected electronic health records data from 63,973 patients
Journal article
NICHOLSON B. et al, (2020), BMJ: British Medical Journal