Family docs fine for breast cancer follow-up
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Women who have been treated for early-stage breast cancer can safely rely on their family physicians for their follow-up care, according to a new report.
“I think the most important message is that patients should be told frankly about what the limitations and potential benefits of follow-up are,” Dr. Eva Grunfeld from Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, told Reuters Health.
“They should be informed that follow-up can be provided by their family physician so that they can make an informed choice about their follow-up arrangements,” she explained.
Grunfeld and her colleagues conducted a 5-year controlled trial of routine follow-up care, provided either by family physicians or cancer specialists, for 969 breast cancer patients from six regional cancer centers in Ontario.
Serious clinical events proved to be extremely rare, with only 35 occurring during follow-up, the investigators report in the Journal of Clinical Oncology. The frequency of these events was similar in patients followed by their family physician or by a specialist. The quality of life was also similar in the two study groups.
In preliminary studies that preceded this clinical trial, Grunfeld said, “patients indicated that they would prefer to stay with the cancer specialist until the end of the first year. That is why the study was designed to enroll patients at 12 months.” Women also indicated that they would want reassurance of access to specialist care should they need it.
“Our plans are now to test an intervention which can facilitate the transfer of care,” she continued.
“The intervention consists of several components,” Grunfeld explained, “including guidelines for the family physicians, guidelines on follow-up for the patient, a patient care plan which includes recommendations for referral back to the oncologist ... and a supportive care resource kit.”
SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, February 20, 2006.
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