The adherence paradox: guideline deviations contribute to the increased 5-year survival of breast cancer patients.

Background: In German breast cancer care, the S1-guidelines of the 1990s were substituted by national S3-guidelines in 2003. The application of guidelines became mandatory for certified breast cancer centers. The aim of the study was to assess guideline adherence according to time intervals and its impact on survival.

Convergence with SEER database achieved by a breast cancer network: a longitudinal benchmark of 5-year relative survival.

Purpose: To benchmark outcomes of a German breast cancer network with the Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results programme (SEER) of the USA from a longitudinal point of view.

Methods: All women receiving primary breast cancer therapy of three hospitals in a rural district of Marburg-Biedenkopf (Germany) of time intervals 1996-1997 and 2003-2004 were used to define local benchmark objects. Data from SEER-programme contributed longitudinal benchmark objects from national level (1988-2004).

Using relative survival measures for cross-sectional and longitudinal benchmarks of countries, states, and districts: the BenchRelSurv- and BenchRelSurvPlot-macros.

Background: The objective of screening programs is to discover life threatening diseases in as many patients as early as possible and to increase the chance of survival. To be able to compare aspects of health care quality, methods are needed for benchmarking that allow comparisons on various health care levels (regional, national, and international).

Objectives: Applications and extensions of algorithms can be used to link the information on disease phases with relative survival rates and to consolidate them in composite measures.

Impact of a single perioperative dose of dexamethasone on the incidence of surgical site infections: a case-control study.

Aims: Dexamethasone is recommended in several international guidelines to prevent postoperative nausea and vomiting, a problem especially frequent in gynecological patients. Despite the increasing use of dexamethasone for this indication there are limited data concerning potential harmful effects of corticosteroids in surgical patients, especially the potential negative impact on wound healing and surgical site infection (SSI). This case-control study was conducted to look for potentially harmful effects of a single perioperative dose of dexamethasone with respect to the occurrence of SSI in gynecological and obstetric surgery patients.

Early self-reported impairments in arm functioning of primary breast cancer patients predict late side effects of axillary lymph node dissection: results from a population-based cohort study.

Objectives: Improvements in the life expectancy of women with breast cancer raise important questions how to improve quality of life (QoL) for women sustaining complications and side effects of cancer treatment. The presented study examined the prevalence of arm morbidity in a cohort of primary breast cancer patients over time as a result of the extent of axillary lymph node dissection. Of particular interest is the question of using a recognized QoL assessment instrument at defined assessment points as an endpoint criteria of oncological treatment.