The report suggests that more intensive lab tests like liver scans and molecular tumor markers do not improve the chances of detecting a recurrence of cancer or increase survival rates among former breast cancer patients.
The finding is at odds with the usual treatment for breast cancer patients, according to Dr. Roldano Fossati of the Mario Negri Institute in Italy and colleagues.
Fossati says "intensive follow-up is quite common in clinical practice and represents a significant workload for radiotherapy, surgical and oncologic departments."
The review appears in the January issue of The Cochrane Library, a publication of The Cochrane Collaboration, an international organization that evaluates medical research. Systematic reviews draw evidence-based conclusions about medical practice after considering both the content and quality of existing medical trials on a topic.
The new analysis is an update of a 20-year-old Cochrane report on the topic. The current review includes four randomized controlled trial studies of 3,055 patients that compare different types of breast cancer follow-up care.
After analyzing data from two of the studies, the researchers found no significant difference in terms of survival, detection of new cancers or quality of life between a group of women who got regular physical exams and annual mammograms and a group who underwent a more extensive battery of laboratory tests that included liver scans, molecular tumor markers, chest x-rays and blood and liver function tests.
Another study included in the review found that follow-up care by hospital-based specialists was not significantly different from that offered by general practitioners in terms of improvements in the patient's quality of life or speed in detectin
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Contact: Roldano Fossati
Fossati@marionegri.it
39-2-39014467
Center for the Advancement of Health
23-Jan-2005