Patterns of care in radiotherapy of breast cancer in Austria 1985: data acquisition and comparison with data of US-PCS 1983.
OBJECTIVE
In Austria, a Patterns of Care Study (PCS) has been conducted to evaluate the standards of practice for breast cancer patients. The year 1985 was selected in order to establish a base data set.


METHODS
At all nine radiation therapy facilities active in patient treatment in 1985, ten patients charts were randomly selected and reviewed. Evaluation of the radiotherapeutic standards was the principal purpose, however, surgical and histopathological parameters were also considered.


RESULTS
Results of the Austrian PCS (including 90 patients) were compared with the "1983 Patterns of Care Process Survey for Definitive Breast Irradiation" performed in 1983 in the U.S. (including 191 patients). Documentation of pathologic tumour size (83% vs. 73%), histologic tumour subtype (99% vs. 97%) and microscopic margin analysis (60% vs. 51%) showed comparable results. Technical equipment was obviously quite different in the two countries, cobalt therapy was used in 25% in the US-PCS compared to 71% in the Austrian PCS. A clear difference also was obtained concerning the use of wedges for tangential breast/thoracic wall fields (64% vs. 21%) and the frequency of portal films (93% vs. 26%).


CONCLUSIONS
Comparing both PCS studies, we found overall many similarities. Differences could be obtained in the quality level of radiation treatment, as for example use of wedges for tangential fields and the number of portal films. In a next step, a further Austrian PCS is planned to compare the Austrian base data from 1985 with quality standards from 1993 and 2001.
Mayer
Ramona
R
Department of Radiation Oncology, University Medical School of Graz, Auenbruggerplatz 32, A-8036 Graz, Austria.
Handl-Zeller
Lore
L
Quehenberger
Franz
F
Hammer
Josef
J
Kametriser
Gerhard
G
Kolbabek
Heinrich
H
Petrova-Schuman
Katja
K
Raunik
Wolfgang
W
Rhomberg
Walter
W
Schratter-Sehn
Annemarie
A
Hackl
Arnulf
A
Pötter
Richard
R
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001317:Austria; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D018270:Carcinoma, Ductal, Breast / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D018275:Carcinoma, Lobular / Q000532:radiotherapy*; D003625:Data Collection; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009367:Neoplasm Staging; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D011878:Radiotherapy / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D014481:United States