Disparity of Surgical Care in Patients with Early-Stage Breast Cancer

Awareness is the first step toward eliminating racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic factors in surgical treatment.

Sentinel lymph-node biopsy (SLNB) has become the accepted technique for evaluating lymph-node metastases in clinically node-negative breast cancer. To determine whether SLNB techniques were used impartially across patient subgroups, investigators evaluated information from the National Cancer Database on nearly 500,000 women who were treated for stage I or II breast cancer in the U.S. from 1998 to 2005 and who were candidates for SLNB.

Overall, 52.8% of patients received SLNB initially. Rates of SLNB versus axillary dissection increased from 27% in 1998 to 65% in 2005. Factors associated with lower likelihood of receiving SLNB were belonging to a racial or ethnic minority group (odds ratio for blacks vs. whites, 0.76), having no health insur…

Reviewing Author

Henry Mark Kuerer, MD, PhD, FACS

Disclosures

Speaker's BureauPhysicians’ Education Resource, LLC

RoyaltiesMcGraw-Hill Professional; UpToDate, Inc.

Editorial BoardsAnnals of Surgical Oncology

Leadership Positions in Professional SocietiesAmerican Society of Breast Surgeons (Chair, Publications Committee)