scholarly journals Are members of multidisciplinary teams in breast cancer aware of each other's informational roles?

2001 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 70-75 ◽  
Author(s):  
V A Jenkins
BMC Cancer ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
I. Whitehead ◽  
◽  
G. W. Irwin ◽  
F. Bannon ◽  
C. E. Coles ◽  
...  

Abstract Background Neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NST) is increasingly used in the treatment of breast cancer, yet it is clear that there is significant geographical variation in its use in the UK. This study aimed to examine stated practice across UK breast units, in terms of indications for use, radiological monitoring, pathological reporting of treatment response, and post-treatment surgical management. Methods Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) from all UK breast units were invited to participate in the NeST study. A detailed questionnaire assessing current stated practice was distributed to all participating units in December 2017 and data collated securely usingREDCap. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each questionnaire item. Results Thirty-nine MDTs from a diverse range of hospitals responded. All MDTs routinely offered neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) to a median of 10% (range 5–60%) of patients. Neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) was offered to a median of 4% (range 0–25%) of patients by 66% of MDTs. The principal indication given for use of neoadjuvant therapy was for surgical downstaging. There was no consensus on methods of radiological monitoring of response, and a wide variety of pathological reporting systems were used to assess tumour response. Twenty-five percent of centres reported resecting the original tumour footprint, irrespective of clinical/radiological response. Radiologically negative axillae at diagnosis routinely had post-NACT or post-NET sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in 73.0 and 84% of centres respectively, whereas 16% performed SLNB pre-NACT. Positive axillae at diagnosis would receive axillary node clearance at 60% of centres, regardless of response to NACT. Discussion There is wide variation in the stated use of neoadjuvant systemic therapy across the UK, with general low usage of NET. Surgical downstaging remains the most common indication of the use of NAC, although not all centres leverage the benefits of NAC for de-escalating surgery to the breast and/or axilla. There is a need for agreed multidisciplinary guidance for optimising selection and management of patients for NST. These findings will be corroborated in phase II of the NeST study which is a national collaborative prospective audit of NST utilisation and clinical outcomes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 34 (7_suppl) ◽  
pp. 16-16
Author(s):  
Oluwadamilola M. Fayanju ◽  
Tinisha L. Mayo ◽  
Tracy E. Spinks ◽  
Seohyun Lee ◽  
Carlos Hernando Barcenas ◽  
...  

16 Background: Value in healthcare (patient-centered outcomes achieved per dollar spent) unifies performance improvement goals with health outcomes of importance to patients. We describe the process through which value-based measures for breast cancer patients and dynamic capture of these metrics via our new electronic health record (EHR) were developed at our institution. Methods: A review of the breast cancer literature was conducted on treatment options as well as expected outcomes and potential treatment complications. Patient perspective was obtained via focus groups. Multidisciplinary teams met to inform a 3-phase process of (1) concept development, (2) measure specification, and (3) implementation via EHR integration, planned for spring 2016. Results: Outcomes were divided into 3 previously defined tiers (NEJM 2010; 363:2477-2481) that reflect the entire cycle of care (Table).Within these tiers, 22 patient-centered outcomes were defined with inclusion/exclusion criteria, specifications for reporting, and sources for data including the EHR and validated patient-reported outcome questionnaires (e.g., FACT-B+4) administered via our patient portal. Conclusions: A value-based approach to cancer care with transparently reported patient outcomes not only creates opportunity for performance improvement but also enables benchmarking within and across providers, healthcare systems, and even countries. Our value-based framework for breast cancer is the first of its kind in the United States, with a similar model being pursued internationally as well. [Table: see text]


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Whitehead ◽  
Gareth Irwin ◽  
Finian Bannon ◽  
Charlotte Coles ◽  
Ellen Copson ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NST) is increasingly used in the treatment of breast cancer, yet it is clear that there is significant geographical variation in its use in the UK. This study aimed to examine stated practice across UK breast units, in terms of indications for use, radiological monitoring, pathological reporting of treatment response, and post-treatment surgical management. Methods: Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) from all UK breast units were invited to participate in the NeST study. A detailed questionnaire assessing current stated practice was distributed to all participating units in December 2017 and data collated securely usingREDCap. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each questionnaire item.Results: Thirty-nine MDTs from a diverse range of hospitals responded. All MDTs routinely offered neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) to a median of 10% (range 5-60%) of patients. Neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) was offered to a median of 4% (range 0-25%) of patients by 66% of MDTs. The principal indication given for use of neoadjuvant therapy was for surgical downstaging. There was no consensus on methods of radiological monitoring of response, and a wide variety of pathological reporting systems were used to assess tumour response. Twenty-five percent of centres reported resecting the original tumour footprint, irrespective of clinical/radiological response. Radiologically negative axillae at diagnosis routinely had post-NACT or post-NET sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in 73.0% and 84% of centres respectively, whereas 16% performed SLNB pre-NACT. Positive axillae at diagnosis would receive axillary node clearance at 60% of centres, regardless of response to NACT.Discussion: There is wide variation in the stated use of neoadjuvant systemic therapy across the UK, with general low usage of NET. Surgical downstaging remains the most common indication of the use of NAC, although not all centres leverage the benefits of NAC for de-escalating surgery to the breast and/or axilla. There is a need for agreed multidisciplinary guidance for optimising selection and management of patients for NST. These findings will be corroborated in phase II of the NeST study which is a national collaborative prospective audit of NST utilisation and clinical outcomes.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Janssen ◽  
Candice Donnelly ◽  
Judy Kay ◽  
Peter Thiem ◽  
Aldo Saavedra ◽  
...  

BACKGROUND A large quantity of data is collected during the delivery of cancer care. However, once collected, these data are difficult for health professionals to access to support clinical decision making and performance review. There is a need for innovative tools that make clinical data more accessible to support health professionals in these activities. One approach for providing health professionals with access to clinical data is to create the infrastructure and interface for a clinical dashboard to make data accessible in a timely and relevant manner. OBJECTIVE This study aimed to develop and evaluate 2 prototype dashboards for displaying data on the identification and management of lymphedema. METHODS The study used a co-design framework to develop 2 prototype dashboards for use by health professionals delivering breast cancer care. The key feature of these dashboards was an approach for visualizing lymphedema patient cohort and individual patient data. This project began with 2 focus group sessions conducted with members of a breast cancer multidisciplinary team (n=33) and a breast cancer consumer (n=1) to establish clinically relevant and appropriate data for presentation and the visualization requirements for a dashboard. A series of fortnightly meetings over 6 months with an Advisory Committee (n=10) occurred to inform and refine the development of a static mock-up dashboard. This mock-up was then presented to representatives of the multidisciplinary team (n=3) to get preliminary feedback about the design and use of such dashboards. Feedback from these presentations was reviewed and used to inform the development of the interactive prototypes. A structured evaluation was conducted on the prototypes, using Think Aloud Protocol and semistructured interviews with representatives of the multidisciplinary team (n=5). RESULTS Lymphedema was selected as a clinically relevant area for the prototype dashboards. A qualitative evaluation is reported for 5 health professionals. These participants were selected from 3 specialties: surgery (n=1), radiation oncology (n=2), and occupational therapy (n=2). Participants were able to complete the majority of tasks on the dashboard. Semistructured interview themes were categorized into engagement or enthusiasm for the dashboard, user experience, and data quality and completeness. CONCLUSIONS Findings from this study constitute the first report of a co-design process for creating a lymphedema dashboard for breast cancer health professionals. Health professionals are interested in the use of data visualization tools to make routinely collected clinical data more accessible. To be used effectively, dashboards need to be reliable and sourced from accurate and comprehensive data sets. While the co-design process used to develop the visualization tool proved effective for designing an individual patient dashboard, the complexity and accessibility of the data required for a cohort dashboard remained a challenge.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Whitehead ◽  
Gareth Irwin ◽  
Finian Bannon ◽  
Charlotte Coles ◽  
Ellen Copson ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NST) is increasingly used in the treatment of breast cancer, yet it is clear that there is significant geographical variation in its use in the UK. This study aimed to examine stated practice across UK breast units, in terms of indications for use, radiological monitoring, pathological reporting of treatment response, and post-treatment surgical management. Methods: Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) from all UK breast units were invited to participate in the NeST study. A detailed questionnaire assessing current stated practice was distributed to all participating units in December 2017 and data collated securely usingREDCap. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each questionnaire item.Results: Thirty-nine MDTs from a diverse range of hospitals responded. All MDTs routinely offered neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) to a median of 10% (range 5-60%) of patients. Neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) was offered to a median of 4% (range 0-25%) of patients by 66% of MDTs. The principal indication given for use of neoadjuvant therapy was for surgical downstaging. There was no consensus on methods of radiological monitoring of response, and a wide variety of pathological reporting systems were used to assess tumour response. Twenty-five percent of centres reported resecting the original tumour footprint, irrespective of clinical/radiological response. Radiologically negative axillae at diagnosis routinely had post-NACT or post-NET sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in 73.0% and 84% of centres respectively, whereas 16% performed SLNB pre-NACT. Positive axillae at diagnosis would receive axillary node clearance at 60% of centres, regardless of response to NACT. Discussion: There is wide variation in the stated use of neoadjuvant systemic therapy across the UK, with general low usage of NET. Surgical downstaging remains the most common indication of the use of NAC, although not all centres leverage the benefits of NAC for de-escalating surgery to the breast and/or axilla. There is a need for agreed multidisciplinary guidance for optimising selection and management of patients for NST. These findings will be corroborated in phase II of the NeST study which is a national collaborative prospective audit of NST utilisation and clinical outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jenny Ingram ◽  
Lucy Beasant ◽  
John Benson ◽  
Adrian Murray Brunt ◽  
Anthony Maxwell ◽  
...  

Abstract BackgroundA multicentre feasibility trial (MIAMI), comparing outcomes and quality of life of women with multiple ipsilateral breast cancer randomised to therapeutic mammoplasty or mastectomy, was conducted from September 2018 to March 2020. The MIAMI surgical trial aimed to investigate recruitment of sufficient numbers of women. Multidisciplinary teams at 10 breast care centres in the UK identified 190 with MIBC diagnosis; 20 were eligible for trial participation but after being approached only four patients were recruited. A nested qualitative study sought to understand the reasons for this lack of recruitment.MethodsInterviews were conducted from November 2019 to September 2020 with 17 staff from eight hospital-based breast care centres that recruited and attempted to recruit to MIAMI; and seven patients from four centres, comprising all patients who were recruited to the trial and some who declined to take part. Interviews were audio-recorded, anonymised and analysed using thematic methods of building codes into themes and sub-themes using the process of constant comparison.ResultsOverarching themes of 1) influences on equipoise and recruitment and 2) effects of a lack of equipoise were generated. Within these themes health professional themes described the barriers to recruitment as ‘the treatment landscape has changed’; staff preferences and beliefs’ which influenced equipoise and patient advice; and how different the treatments were for patients. Patient themes of ‘altruism and timing of trial approach’; ‘influences from consultants and others’; and ‘diagnostic journey doubts’ all played a part in whether patients agreed to take part in the trial.ConclusionsBarriers to recruiting to breast cancer surgical trials can be significant, especially where there are substantial differences between the treatments being offered and a lack of equipoise communicated by healthcare professionals to patients. Patients can become overwhelmed by numerous requests for participation in research trials and inappropriate timing of trial discussions. Alternative study designs to the gold standard randomised control trial for surgical interventions may be required to provide the high-quality evidence on which to base practice.Trial registration numbers: ISRCTN (ISRCTN17987569) registered 20/04/2018, https://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN17987569; and ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT03514654).


2021 ◽  
pp. OP.20.00793
Author(s):  
Elizabeth J. Cathcart-Rake ◽  
Kathryn J. Ruddy ◽  
Archie Bleyer ◽  
Rebecca H. Johnson

In the United States, one in 196 women is diagnosed with breast cancer under the age of 40 years. Adolescents and young adults (AYAs), of age 15-39 years at diagnosis, experience a number of unique challenges when confronting breast cancer. The incidence of invasive breast cancer has increased among AYA women in the United States since 2004, and most of this change is due to an increase in young women diagnosed with distant disease. AYAs are more likely than older women to present with aggressive subtypes and advanced disease, and they often require systemic staging at diagnosis. Clinical trials should be considered whenever possible, particularly in AYAs with locally advanced or metastatic disease at diagnosis and those with disease progression or recurrence. A significant proportion of AYAs carry germline cancer predisposition mutations, which necessitates prompt genetic testing for all AYAs at diagnosis and may influence choice of local therapy. Suppression of ovarian function, as an adjunct to chemotherapy, may improve breast cancer survival in AYAs. To provide optimal care for AYAs with breast cancer, clinicians should engage multidisciplinary teams that offer fertility preservation, genetic counseling, physical and occupational therapy, nutrition, and psychosocial support, along with medical expertise in tailoring cancer-directed therapy and symptom management toward young women.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Pomaa Akuoko ◽  
Shirley Chambers ◽  
Patsy Yates

Abstract PurposeThe study sought to understand the supportive care needs of women with advanced breast cancer (ABC) from the perspectives of healthcare professionals (HCPs) and key informants of charitable/non-governmental organisations (NGOs), that provide supportive care services to women with advanced breast cancer, in Ghana.MethodsA qualitative descriptive approach was employed via one-to-one semi-structured interviews with 13 HCPs and key informants of charitable/NGOs in Ghana that provide supportive care services to women with advanced breast cancer. The study was underpinned by Bradshaw’s taxonomy of social needs and Fitch’s supportive care framework. The data were analysed using a deductive content analysis approach.ResultsHealthcare providers and key informants perceived that women with ABC in Ghana have numerous and complex supportive care needs in key areas that align with Fitch’s supportive care framework, including informational, psychological, emotional, physical, practical, social, sexuality and spiritual needs.ConclusionParticipants perceived that women who have ABC in Ghana require ongoing information about their condition, treatments and related effects, as well as spiritual support and guidance particularly due to the fatalistic beliefs they often associate with the condition. Tailored supportive care interventions and services, which address the unique sociocultural circumstances for this cohort, are required. Additional research is needed to explore how multidisciplinary teams can work collaboratively to provide comprehensive support to women in addressing their needs.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 ◽  
pp. 175883591877692 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matteo B. Suter ◽  
Olivia Pagani

Despite breast cancer being uncommon in young women, it is still the most frequent cancer diagnosed in women aged 15–39 years, and the leading cause of death in this age group in high-income countries, after accidents and self-injury. The present review summarizes the most recent guidelines and offers an expert perspective on the many challenges associated with treatment of young women with breast cancer. We will especially focus on early breast cancer, exploring the specificities of the diagnostic process, imaging techniques, locoregional and systemic treatments, and the added value of dedicated multidisciplinary teams. Specific differences in adjuvant treatment between premenopausal and postmenopausal women, especially regarding endocrine therapy, will be addressed in detail. Research questions and current gaps in important fields, such as the paucity of age-specific data regarding antihuman epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (anti-HER2) therapy and gene panels such as OncotypeDX or MAMMAPRINT will be highlighted. A consistent part of this review is dedicated to the issues defining ‘young women’, such as fertility preservation, managing long-term side effects of oncological treatments and genetic counselling, by detailing current strategies and future perspectives.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ian Whitehead ◽  
Gareth Irwin ◽  
Finian Bannon ◽  
Charlotte Coles ◽  
Ellen Copson ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: Neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NST) is increasingly used in the treatment of breast cancer, yet it is clear that there is significant geographical variation in its use in the UK. This study aimed to examine stated practice across UK breast units, in terms of indications for use, radiological monitoring, pathological reporting of treatment response, and post-treatment surgical management. Methods: Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) from all UK breast units were invited to participate in the NeST study. A detailed questionnaire assessing current stated practice was distributed to all participating units in December 2017 and data collated securely usingREDCap. Descriptive statistics were calculated for each questionnaire item.Results: Thirty-nine MDTs from a diverse range of hospitals responded. All MDTs routinely offered neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) to a median of 10% (range 5-60%) of patients. Neoadjuvant endocrine therapy (NET) was offered to a median of 4% (range 0-25%) of patients by 66% of MDTs. The principal indication given for use of neoadjuvant therapy was for surgical downstaging. There was no consensus on methods of radiological monitoring of response, and a wide variety of pathological reporting systems were used to assess tumour response. Twenty-five percent of centres reported resecting the original tumour footprint, irrespective of clinical/radiological response. Radiologically negative axillae at diagnosis routinely had post-NACT or post-NET sentinel lymph node biopsy (SLNB) in 73.0% and 84% of centres respectively, whereas 16% performed SLNB pre-NACT. Positive axillae at diagnosis would receive axillary node clearance at 60% of centres, regardless of response to NACT.Discussion: There is wide variation in the stated use of neoadjuvant systemic therapy across the UK, with general low usage of NET. Surgical downstaging remains the most common indication of the use of NAC, although not all centres leverage the benefits of NAC for de-escalating surgery to the breast and/or axilla. There is a need for agreed multidisciplinary guidance for optimising selection and management of patients for NST. These findings will be corroborated in phase II of the NeST study which is a national collaborative prospective audit of NST utilisation and clinical outcomes.


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