Surgeon characteristics and receipt of adjuvant radiotherapy in women with breast cancer.

Background: Adjuvant radiotherapy following breast conservation surgery (BCS) is considered to be an indicator of quality of care for the majority of women with breast cancer, but many women do not receive adjuvant radiotherapy. We investigated the association of surgeon-related factors with receipt of adjuvant radiotherapy after BCS.

Methods: We used the linked Surveillance, Epidemiology and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database to identify women aged 65 years or older with stage I/II breast cancer who were diagnosed between 1991 and 2002 and underwent BCS.

Indigent breast cancer patients among all racial and ethnic groups present with more advanced disease compared with nationally reported data.

Background: This study examines the epidemiologic and pathologic characteristics of indigent breast cancer patients followed up in a public city hospital in comparison to national standards.

Methods: A prospective oncology database was queried to identify all patients presenting with primary breast cancer. Medical records of 188 patients identified between March 1997 and May 2002 were retrospectively reviewed.