Benefits versus drawbacks of delaying surgery due to additional consultations in older patients with breast cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Additional evaluations, including second opinions, before breast cancer surgery may improve care, but may cause detrimental treatment delays that could allow disease progression.

Aims

We investigate the timing of surgical delays that are associated with survival benefits conferred by preoperative encounters versus the timing that are associated with potential harm.

Methods and results

We investigated survival outcomes of SEER Medicare patients with stage 1-3 breast cancer using propensity score-based weighting. We examined interactions between the number of preoperative evaluation components and time from biopsy to definitive surgery. Components include new patient visits, unique surgeons, medical oncologists, or radiation oncologists consulted, established

SUBMITTER: Egleston BL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10172180 | biostudies-literature | 2023 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature