title: More detailed documentation of operative procedures in breast conserving treatment: what good will it do us?
abstract: When researching the literature, many differences within surgical techniques for breast conservation, tumour excision and axillary dissection are described in the smallest detail. Most authors have their own preferences but little clinical research has been done to evaluate the impact of those differences on outcome: local control, cosmesis, complications or costs. Even when prospective, randomized clinical trial protocols provide many instructions to perform the surgery, the case report forms almost never document the surgery actually performed. This is in contrast to radiotherapy and chemotherapy regimens, which have had higher standards of quality of care implemented. The development of more detailed and standardized procedural information should lead to more accurate and specific information, which can be easily transferred in a learning process, and enable more reliable clinical research. Documentation and guidelines for surgery are essential tools in implementing a process of quality audit for a type of surgery where accuracy is essential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery-Senology, University Hospitals K.U. Leuven, Belgium.
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Christiaens
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: van der Schueren
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Vantongelen
mesh_terms: D001365:Axilla / Q000601:surgery; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000532:radiotherapy / Q000601:surgery*; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008197:Lymph Node Excision / Q000379:methods; D008408:Mastectomy / Q000379:methods*; D008499:Medical Records; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic