title: Follow-up after primary treatment for breast cancer.
abstract: Follow-up after primary treatment for breast cancer is a routine practice aiming at early detection and management of local recurrences and/or distant metastases of the disease or of new primaries. Breast self-examination and periodic physical examination, mammography, and pelvic examination are the most important methods in following-up these patients. The, at one time, more popular intensive routine diagnostic evaluation (including head, chest, abdominal, and pelvic computerized tomography and/or magnetic resonance imaging, liver ultrasonography, bone scans, tumor markers, etc.) is not currently considered appropriate and cost-effective. However, flexibility, based on clinical judgement, is required on the part of medical staff involved in the follow-up in order appropriately to adapt the general guidelines and meet the specific needs of the individual patients. Non-specialist or non-physician models of follow-up care have been proposed as interesting and cost-effective alternatives in the follow-up of breast cancer patients.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Hellenic Air Force  Hospital, Athens, Greece. georgesakorafas@yahoo.com
authors.forename: G H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Sakorafas
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Tsiotou
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pavlakis
mesh_terms: D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy; D016504:Breast Self-Examination; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008327:Mammography; D009364:Neoplasm Recurrence, Local / Q000175:diagnosis*; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic