Publications by authors named "Barbara Matthews"
Objective: Routine ovarian cancer screening is ineffective; therefore, no professional organization recommends this screening in asymptomatic patients. However, many physicians have recommended screening, exposing patients to unnecessary risk. Little research exists on how nonprofessional experience with cancer influences physicians' screening practices.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFSYM-1219, a novel oral granule formulation of secnidazole, is under development as single-dose treatment for bacterial vaginosis. This 4-way, randomized, crossover study evaluated the effects of SYM-1219 on electrocardiographic (ECG) parameters in 52 healthy subjects. Subjects were administered single doses of SYM-1219, 2 g (proposed therapeutic dose), 6 g (supratherapeutic dose), placebo, and moxifloxacin (positive control).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To study physicians' beliefs about the effectiveness of different tests for cancer screening.
Methods: Data were examined from the Women's Health Survey of 1574 Family Medicine, Internal Medicine, and Obstetrics-Gynecology physicians to questions about their level of agreement about the clinical effectiveness of different tests for breast, cervical, ovarian, and colorectal cancer screening among average risk women. Data were weighted to the U.
Background: Studies have shown a mismatch between published cancer screening and genetic counseling referral recommendations and physician-reported screening and referral practices. Inaccurate cancer risk assessment is one potential cause of this mismatch.
Objective: To assess U.
Background: No professional society or group recommends routine ovarian cancer screening, yet physicians' enthusiasm for several cancer screening tests before benefit has been proven suggests that some women may be exposed to potential harms.
Objective: To provide nationally representative estimates of physicians' reported nonadherence to recommendations against ovarian cancer screening.
Design: Cross-sectional survey of physicians offering women's primary care.
Objective: To identify the factors associated with inclusion of a gynecologic oncologist in managing the care of a woman with suspected ovarian cancer.
Methods: A vignette-based survey was mailed to 3,200 physicians aged 64 and younger who were randomly sampled from family physician, general internist, and obstetrician-gynecologist (ob-gyn) lists from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile. The vignette described a 57-year-old woman with pain, bloating, and a suspicious right adnexal mass with ascites.
Background: Genetic counseling and testing is recommended for women at high but not average risk of ovarian cancer. National estimates of physician adherence to genetic counseling and testing recommendations are lacking.
Methods: Using a vignette-based study, we surveyed 3200 United States family physicians, general internists, and obstetrician/gynecologists and received 1878 (62%) responses.
Background: A study was undertaken to identify the diagnostic approaches that primary care physicians and gynecologists undertake in women with symptoms associated with ovarian cancer.
Methods: A vignette-based survey was mailed to 3200 primary care physicians from the American Medical Association Physician Masterfile. The vignette described a 55-year-old woman with symptoms associated with ovarian cancer, although ovarian cancer was never mentioned.
Context: Cancer care requires specialty surgical and medical resources that are less likely to be found in rural areas.
Purpose: To examine the travel patterns and distances of rural and urban colorectal cancer (CRC) patients to 3 types of specialty cancer care services--surgery, medical oncology consultation, and radiation oncology consultation.
Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study using linked Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registry and Medicare claims data for 27,143 individuals ages 66 and older diagnosed with stages I through III CRC between 1992 and 1996.
Background: The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between surgeon and hospital volume and major postoperative complications after rectal cancer surgery, and to define other surgeon and hospital characteristics that may explain observed volume-complication relationships.
Study Design: This was a retrospective cohort design using data from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) cancer registry program for individuals with stage I to III rectal cancer diagnosed between 1992 and 1999 and treated with resection. The patients' Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data were linked with Medicare claims data from 1991 to 2000.
Background: Black patients with rectal cancer are considerably less likely than white patients to receive adjuvant therapy. We examined the hypothesis that the lower treatment rate for blacks is due to underreferral to medical and radiation oncologists.
Methods: We used 1992-1999 Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare data to identify elderly (> or = 66 years of age) patients who had been hospitalized for resection of stage II or III rectal cancer (n = 2716).
Background: This study examined elderly stage II and III rectal cancer patients' adjuvant chemoradiation therapy adherence, trends in adherence over time, and the relation of levels of adherence to mortality.
Methods: The authors studied 2886 stage II and III rectal cancer patients who had surgical resection and who appeared in 1992-1999 linked SEER-Medicare claims data. The authors compared measures of adjuvant radiation and chemotherapy receipt and completion between stage II and III patients.
Background: Providing appropriate surgical treatment for women with ovarian cancer is one of the most effective ways to improve ovarian cancer outcomes. In this study, the authors identified factors that were associated with a measure of comprehensive surgery, so that interventions may be targeted appropriately to improve surgical care.
Methods: Using Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project hospital discharge data from 1999 to 2002 for 9 states, the authors identified 10,432 admissions of women who had an International Classification of Disease, 9th Revision (ICD-9) primary diagnosis of ovarian cancer and who had undergone oophorectomy.
Hypothesis: Although numerous studies have demonstrated an association between surgical volume and improved outcome in cancer surgery, the specific structures and mechanisms of care that are associated with volume and lead to improved outcomes remain poorly defined. We hypothesize that there are modifiable surgeon and hospital characteristics that explain observed volume-outcome relationships.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Objective: To describe unplanned procedures following colorectal cancer surgery that might be used as intermediate outcome measures, and to determine their association with mortality and length of stay.
Summary Background: Variation in the quality of surgical care, especially for common illnesses like colorectal cancer, has received increasing attention. Nonfatal complications resulting in procedural interventions are likely to play a role in poor outcomes but have not been well explored.
Article Synopsis
- The study analyzes surgical procedures and complications associated with ovarian cancer treatment in women, using data from 1999 to 2002.
- It finds that many women undergoing oophorectomy also receive additional surgeries, with significant rates of both intraoperative and postoperative complications.
- Factors such as patient demographics and hospital characteristics play a role in the types of procedures performed and complication rates experienced by patients.
Background: Certain factors, such as race or age, are known to be associated with variation in initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer, but little is known about what factors are associated with completion of adjuvant therapy. To determine whether predictors of initiation also predict completion, we analyzed Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program data linked to Medicare claims. We investigated mortality as a means to testing the validity of the completion measure that we created.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Autologous stem-cell transplantation has been shown to be a curative procedure for a variety of leukemias and lymphomas. Most transplants require RBC and platelet support. We report the ability to perform autologous transplantation without blood-product support.
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