Routine Clinical vs. Telephone Follow-Up After Treatment for Breast Cancer

Routine follow-up of women who have breast cancer in remission generally consists of outpatient visits with clinicians as well as regular mammography; however, the value of the outpatient visits is unclear. In this U.K. trial, 374 women who had been treated for breast cancer and were at low-to-moderate risk for recurrence were randomized to scheduled outpatient follow-up visits or scheduled periodic telephone follow-up by specialist nurses; both groups underwent mammography at the same intervals.

During an average follow-up of 2 years, no differences in anxiety levels were noted between groups. In fact, women in the telephone follow-up group reported significantly higher levels of satisfaction at the middle and end of the trial than did wome…