|
Sorry, AA, I rambled and got off the actual topic, which is follow up after primary breast cancer. The guidelines I've been referencing address only follow up after primary breast cancer. The studies on which the guidelines are based, as Margerie confirmed when she got access to that "uptodate" summary, do claim equal QOL for those not doing TM's as part of primary follow up.
The rest was conversation and thinking-aloud, although as I said, it's a valid conversation and some women and providers prefer that style of management after recurrence, for the reasons that I stated.
I think that the option of using markers for follow up after a distant recurrence is considered standard of care, although not all oncologists use them for all patients, for various reasons (they don't work for that patient, the oncologist prefers scans, etc). And they are not stand-alone. They are used as one piece of the puzzle that would include scans and symptoms.
Debbie
|