Hodgkin's disease: successful dissemination of high technology treatment throughout the United States.
In the 1950s and 1960s, concepts of the curability of Hodgkin's disease were changing due to a better understanding of the natural history of the disease and major technical innovations for evaluating the extent of disease and treating it with radiation therapy. The Patterns of Care Study in the United States of national practice and of selected referral centres has been analysed to determine the extent of the adoption or dissemination of our concepts of best current management into the United States practice as a whole. A favourable overall level of compliance has been noted, while the National Cancer Institute-funded Cancer Centers and Radiation Therapy Oncology Group (RTOG) facilities show the best process compliance. University facilities, large practices and full-time practitioners consistently outperform their counterparts in community practices, small practices and part-time practices. Despite these generalizations, we have observed poorly performing facilities in all strata of practice that require that the quality be assessed on an individual facility basis.
D006689:Hodgkin Disease / Q000473:pathology / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D010347:Patient Care Planning / Q000592:standards*; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care; D014481:United States