Second opinion yields treatment changes for half of patients
 

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — More than half of breast cancer patients who sought a second opinion from a multidisciplinary tumor board received a change in their recommended treatment plan, according to a new study from the University of Michigan Comprehensive Cancer Center.

A multidisciplinary tumor board includes a network of specialists from different disciplines devoted to treating breast cancer, including surgery, radiation oncology, medical oncology, radiology and pathology.

Researchers looked at the records of 149 consecutive patients referred to the U-M Cancer Center's multidisciplinary breast tumor board for a second opinion. The patients had already been diagnosed with breast cancer after having undergone initial evaluation, breast imaging and biopsy, and they already had a treatment recommendation from another hospital or care provider.

Overall, 52 percent of the patients evaluated had one or more changes in their recommendations for surgery. The changes were a result of breast imaging specialists reading a mammogram differently or breast pathologists interpreting biopsy results differently. In some cases, the initial recommendation was changed after the case was reviewed by medical oncologists and radiation oncologists prior to surgery.

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releas...-soy112906.php

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