Scientists At National Cancer Institute Report Research In Breast Cancer Therapy

Researchers detail in 'Is mode of breast cancer detection associated with cancer treatment in the United States,' new data in breast cancer. "The prognosis for women who have breast cancer detected by mammography is more favorable than that for women who have breast cancer detected by other methods, even after controlling for tumor characteristics. In the current study, the authors explored whether detection by mammography was associated with greater use of guideline-consistent breast cancer treatment among patients with recently diagnosed breast cancer in the United States," researchers in the United States report.

"The authors evaluated the association between mode of breast cancer detection (mammography vs other) and use of guideline-consistent treatment in 1006 women aged >or@ years who were diagnosed in 2000. These patients were sampled from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results Program as part of the Patterns of Care studies. The analyses controlled for the potential confounders of clinical, demographic, and health system characteristics in multivariate logistic regression models. Breast cancer patients who were diagnosed by mammography were more likely to be aged >orU years, to have lower stage disease, and to be treated in larger hospitals than patients who were diagnosed by other methods (p <.05). Women whose breast cancer was diagnosed by a method other than mammography were more likely to receive guideline-consistent treatment than women who were diagnosed by mammography in unadjusted (odds ratio, 1.39; 95% confidence interval, 1.07-1.80) and multivariate analyses (odds ratio, 1.43; 95% confidence interval, 1.05-1.95). The current results indicated that women who had breast cancer detected by methods other than mammography were slightly more likely to receive guideline-consistent therapy than women who had breast cancer detected by mammography," wrote K.R. Yabroff and colleagues, National Cancer Institute.

The researchers concluded: "Future research exploring mode of detection, guideline-consistent treatment, and survival among patients with recently diagnosed breast cancer may inform understanding of factors associated with breast cancer prognosis."

Yabroff and colleagues published their study in Cancer (Is mode of breast cancer detection associated with cancer treatment in the United States? Cancer, 2008;112(5):1011-9).

For additional information, contact K.R. Yabroff, National Cancer Institute, Division of Cancer Control and Population Sciences, Bethesda, MD 20892-7344 USA..

Publisher contact information for the journal Cancer is: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 111 River St., Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA.

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