Cargando…

Guidelines, guidelines and more guidelines: And we still do not know how to follow-up patients with breast cancer

BACKGROUND: A major challenge facing us is the provision of health care and appropriate allocation of available resources for the treatment of patients with breast cancer. This is of particular concern in the provision of follow-up care. With the increasing incidence of breast cancer and the improve...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Heys, Steven D, Chaturvedi, Shailesh, Hutcheon, Andrew W, Sarkar, Tarun K
Formato: Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: BioMed Central 2005
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1236968/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16117834
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1477-7819-3-54
_version_ 1782125022146461696
author Heys, Steven D
Chaturvedi, Shailesh
Hutcheon, Andrew W
Sarkar, Tarun K
author_facet Heys, Steven D
Chaturvedi, Shailesh
Hutcheon, Andrew W
Sarkar, Tarun K
author_sort Heys, Steven D
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: A major challenge facing us is the provision of health care and appropriate allocation of available resources for the treatment of patients with breast cancer. This is of particular concern in the provision of follow-up care. With the increasing incidence of breast cancer and the improvements in survival which have resulted in up to 75% of patients surviving for more than five years, an increasing resource is required. However, there is controversy as to the most appropriate schedule for follow-up of these patients. This brief review has focused on the evidence-base and guidelines that currently exist in the United Kingdom for the follow-up of patients who have been treated for breast cancer. METHODS: A review of the current guidelines published in the United Kingdom for the follow-up of patients with breast cancer (National Institute for Clinical Excellence, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, British Association of Surgical Oncology) and the randomised controlled trials evaluating the follow-up of patients with breast cancer was undertaken. RESULTS: The results have demonstrated the different follow-up protocols currently indicated in these guidelines within the same country. Furthermore, the lack of well designed, randomised controlled trials on which to base a follow-up protocol for patients with breast cancer is apparent. CONCLUSION: The evidence-base on which these guidelines have been developed is lacking. It is apparent that well designed randomised controlled trials are needed urgently if we are to understand the most appropriate and effective ways of following up patients with breast cancer.
format Text
id pubmed-1236968
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2005
publisher BioMed Central
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-12369682005-09-29 Guidelines, guidelines and more guidelines: And we still do not know how to follow-up patients with breast cancer Heys, Steven D Chaturvedi, Shailesh Hutcheon, Andrew W Sarkar, Tarun K World J Surg Oncol Review BACKGROUND: A major challenge facing us is the provision of health care and appropriate allocation of available resources for the treatment of patients with breast cancer. This is of particular concern in the provision of follow-up care. With the increasing incidence of breast cancer and the improvements in survival which have resulted in up to 75% of patients surviving for more than five years, an increasing resource is required. However, there is controversy as to the most appropriate schedule for follow-up of these patients. This brief review has focused on the evidence-base and guidelines that currently exist in the United Kingdom for the follow-up of patients who have been treated for breast cancer. METHODS: A review of the current guidelines published in the United Kingdom for the follow-up of patients with breast cancer (National Institute for Clinical Excellence, Scottish Intercollegiate Guidelines Network, British Association of Surgical Oncology) and the randomised controlled trials evaluating the follow-up of patients with breast cancer was undertaken. RESULTS: The results have demonstrated the different follow-up protocols currently indicated in these guidelines within the same country. Furthermore, the lack of well designed, randomised controlled trials on which to base a follow-up protocol for patients with breast cancer is apparent. CONCLUSION: The evidence-base on which these guidelines have been developed is lacking. It is apparent that well designed randomised controlled trials are needed urgently if we are to understand the most appropriate and effective ways of following up patients with breast cancer. BioMed Central 2005-08-23 /pmc/articles/PMC1236968/ /pubmed/16117834 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1477-7819-3-54 Text en Copyright © 2005 Heys et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License ( (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0) ), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Review
Heys, Steven D
Chaturvedi, Shailesh
Hutcheon, Andrew W
Sarkar, Tarun K
Guidelines, guidelines and more guidelines: And we still do not know how to follow-up patients with breast cancer
title Guidelines, guidelines and more guidelines: And we still do not know how to follow-up patients with breast cancer
title_full Guidelines, guidelines and more guidelines: And we still do not know how to follow-up patients with breast cancer
title_fullStr Guidelines, guidelines and more guidelines: And we still do not know how to follow-up patients with breast cancer
title_full_unstemmed Guidelines, guidelines and more guidelines: And we still do not know how to follow-up patients with breast cancer
title_short Guidelines, guidelines and more guidelines: And we still do not know how to follow-up patients with breast cancer
title_sort guidelines, guidelines and more guidelines: and we still do not know how to follow-up patients with breast cancer
topic Review
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1236968/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16117834
http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1477-7819-3-54
work_keys_str_mv AT heysstevend guidelinesguidelinesandmoreguidelinesandwestilldonotknowhowtofollowuppatientswithbreastcancer
AT chaturvedishailesh guidelinesguidelinesandmoreguidelinesandwestilldonotknowhowtofollowuppatientswithbreastcancer
AT hutcheonandreww guidelinesguidelinesandmoreguidelinesandwestilldonotknowhowtofollowuppatientswithbreastcancer
AT sarkartarunk guidelinesguidelinesandmoreguidelinesandwestilldonotknowhowtofollowuppatientswithbreastcancer