After diagnosis of breast cancer, surgeon may elect to sent patients to an oncologist or have them followed up by the surgeon himself. A new study finds that breast cancer patients actually get better care if they are sent to an oncologist after surgery.
These results come from a study conducted by Dr. Rebecca A. Silliman of the Boston University School of Public Health, who showed that elderly women with breast cancer who are referred by their surgeons to cancer specialists are twice as likely to be prescribed tamoxifen. The author suggests that all elderly women should be given an opportunity to have a meeting with medical oncologists after their breast cancer surgery.
559 patients who were 65 years of age or older with initial stage breast cancer who were treated by 191 surgeons were included in this study. After 3,6 and 15 months of surgery, such women were interviewed by telephone.
Silliman also said that it is really important to offer older women with the same kind of opportunity for treatment decision-making because there is substantial future life expectancy for many of these women.
No matter if it is breast cancer or any other kind of cancer, the treatment decision-making in cancer is difficult and clearly charged emotionally. |
