Introduction: Treatment delay is a major problem of contemporary oncology. Knowing the time interval between diagnosis and initiation of treatment, together with monitoring this adverse prognostic factor, is an important element of the treatment planning process in the population and can contribute to the improvement of patients’ curability.
Objective: To assess the waiting time for first treatment of women diagnosed with breast cancer in 2001-2002 in Podlaskie Voivodeship.
Materials and methods: During 2001-2002, there were 709 cases of women with breast cancer who reported to the Voivodeship Cancer Registry in Bialystok. 659 women were diagnosed with a primary invasive breast tumour. A cohort of 499 women who were treated with a curative intent was selected from this group. The waiting time in the created cohort was calculated as the number of days between the date of the breast cancer diagnosis and date of the first treatment.
Results: The average time between the date of diagnosis and date of the first treatment was 38 days. The median was 14 days. 28.6% of patients from the selected cohort waited longer than 28 days. The treatment of rural women was initiated faster than the treatment of urban patients.
REFERENCES(38)
1.
Bulski W, Gwiazdowska B, Pruszyński A, Rostkowska J. Infrastruktura radioterapii w Polsce. Nowotwory. 2007; 57: 487-517.
Mackillop W, Zhou Y, Quirt C. A comparison of delays in the treatment of cancer with radiation in Canada and the United States. Int J Radiat Oncol Biol Phys. 1995; 32: 531-9.
Comber H, Cronin D, Deady S, Lorcain P, Riordan P. Delays in treatment in the cancer services: impact on cancer stage and survival. Ir Med J. 2005; 98: 238-9.
Ash D, Barrett A, Hinks A, Squire C; Royal College of Radiologists. Reaudit of radiotherapy waiting times 2003. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol). 2004; 16: 387-94.
EUROCHIP European Cancer Health Indicator Project-II. The Action. Final Scientific Report European Commission Directorate for Public Health and Safety at Work 31/03/2008. http://www.tumori. net/eurochip/.
EUROCHIP II European Cancer Health Indicator Project Final Report European Commission Directorate for Public Health and Safety at Work 15/07/2003. http://www.tumori.net/eurochip....
EUROCHIP III European Cancer Health Indicator Project-III Interim Scientific Report European Commission Directorate for Public Health and Safety at Work 30/04/2010. http://www.tumori.net/eurochip....
Wyatt RM, Jones BJ, Dale RM. Radiotherapy treatment delays and their influence on tumour control achieved by various fractionation. The British Journal of Radiology. 2008; 81: 549–563.
Pawlicki M. Wybrane zagadnienia dotyczące możliwości poprawy odległych wyników leczenia chorych na nowotwory złośliwe. Pol Arch Med Wewn. 1995; 93: 1-8.
Richards M, Westcombe A, Love S, Littlejohns P, Ramirez A. Influence of delay on survival in patients with breast cancer: a systematic review. Lancet. 1999; 353: 1119-26.
Choan E, Dahrouge S, Samant R, Mirzaei A, Price J. Radical radiotherapy for cervical cancer: the effect of waiting time on outcome. Int J Radiation Oncology Biol Phys. 2005; 61: 1071-7.
Gonzalez San Segundo C, Calvo Manuel F, Santos Miranda J. Delays and treatment interruptions: difficulties in administering radiotherapy in an ideal time-period. Clin Transl Oncol. 2005; 7: 47-54.
Robertson R, Campbell NC, Smith S, Donnan PT, Sullivan F, Ritchie LD, et al. Factors influencing time from presentation to treatment of colorectal and breast cancer in urban and rural areas. British Journal of Cancer. 2004; 90: 1479-1485.
Arndt V, Strumer T, Stegmaier C, Ziegler H, Dhom G, Brenner H. Patient delay and stage of diagnosis among breast cancer patients in Germany – a population based study. British J Cancer. 2002; 86: 1034-1040.
Montella M, Crispo A, Botti G et al. An assessment of delays in obtaining definitive breast cancer treatment in Southern Italy. Breast Cancer Res Treat. 2001; 66: 209-215.
Collins I, Naidoo J, Rowley S, Reynolds JV, Kennedy MJ. Waiting times for access, diagnosis and treatment in a cancer centre. Ir Med J. 2009; 102: 279-82.
Afzelius P, Zedeler K, Sommer H, Mouridsen HT, Blichert-Toft M. Patient’s and doctor’s delay in primary breast cancer. Prognostic implications. Acta Oncol. 1994; 33: 345-51.
Sainsbury R, Johnston C, Haward B. Effect on survival of delays in referral of patients with breast-cancer symptoms: A retrospective analysis. Lancet. 1999; 353: 1132-1135.
Caplan LS, May DS, Richardson LC. Time to Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer: Results From the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program, 1991–1995. Am J Public Health. 2000; 90: 130-138.
Coles C, Burgess L, Tan L. An audit of delays before and during radical radiotherapy for cervical cancer – effect on tumour cure probability. Clin Oncol (R Coll Radiol). 2003; 15: 47-54.
Schafer C, Nelson K, Herbst M. Waiting for radiotherapy a national call for ethical discourse on waiting lists in radiotherapy: findings from a preliminary survey. Strahlenther Onkol. 2005; 181: 9-19.
Krzyżak M, Maślach D, Bielska-Lasota M, Juczewska M, Rabczenko D, Marcinkowski JT, Szpak A. Breast cancer survival gap between urban and rural female population in Podlaskie Voivodship, Poland, in 2001- 2002. Population study. Ann Agric Environ Med. 2010; 17: 277-282.
Esteban D, Whelan S, Laudico A. Rejestracja zachorowań na nowotwory złośliwe. Podręcznik dla personelu rejestrów nowotworowych. Centrum Onkologii – Instytut im. M. Skłodowskiej-Curie, Warszawa 2002.
We process personal data collected when visiting the website. The function of obtaining information about users and their behavior is carried out by voluntarily entered information in forms and saving cookies in end devices. Data, including cookies, are used to provide services, improve the user experience and to analyze the traffic in accordance with the Privacy policy. Data are also collected and processed by Google Analytics tool (more).
You can change cookies settings in your browser. Restricted use of cookies in the browser configuration may affect some functionalities of the website.