Incidence of breast biopsy higher among women treated with brachytherapy versus whole-breast irradiation
FRIDAY, Feb. 2, 2018 (HealthDay News) — The estimated biopsy rate after breast cancer treatment varies, according to a study published online Jan. 31 in JAMA Surgery.
Raquel F.D. van la Parra, M.D., Ph.D., from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, and colleagues conducted a population-based cohort study involving 41,510 patients aged 64 years or younger in a commercial insurance database and 80,369 patients aged 66 years or older in the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER)-Medicare database. All patients were diagnosed with invasive breast cancer (stages I to III) from 2000 to 2011, and biopsy rates were identified during follow-up.
The researchers found that the five- and 10-year overall incidences of breast biopsy were 14.7 and 23.4 percent and 11.8 and 14.9 percent, respectively, in the commercial insurance and SEER-Medicare cohorts. Women treated with brachytherapy had higher five-year estimated incidence of breast biopsy in the commercial and SEER-Medicare cohorts (24 and 25 percent, respectively) compared to those treated with whole-breast irradiation (16.7 and 15.1 percent, respectively); this association persisted after multivariable adjustment in the commercial insurance and SEER-Medicare cohorts (hazard ratios, 1.53 and 1.76, respectively). Subsequent cancer treatment was reported for 29.8 and 23.2 percent of patients with breast biopsy in the commercial insurance and SEER-Medicare cohorts, respectively.
“These data can be used in the context of therapy-planning discussions and to help establish survivorship expectations for patients with breast cancer,” the authors write.
Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical and medical technology industries.
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