Surveillance of patients with breast cancer after curative-intent primary treatment: current practice patterns.

Purpose: To determine how physicians monitor their patients after initial curative-intent treatment for breast carcinoma.

Methods: A custom-designed survey instrument with four idealized patient vignettes (TNM stages 0 to III) was e-mailed to the 3,245 members of ASCO who had identified themselves as having breast cancer as a major focus of their practice. Respondents were asked how they use 12 specific follow-up modalities during post-treatment years 1 to 5 for each vignette.