Telephone and face-to-face consultation in breast cancer diagnosis: a comparative study.
OBJECTIVE
This study compares telephone consultations with the results of clinical examinations to assess the value and accuracy of telephone consultations for the future planning in a breast cancer clinic in Tehran, Iran.


METHODS
In 2500 telephone calls, 800 Symptomatic patients were identified and asked to visit the center for the further investigations by the specialists. The agreement between two observers data were compared by the kappa statistic.


RESULTS
Totally 174 patients complied with the recommendation and included in the study. The most common chief complaints of visitors were: breast mass (42%) and breast pain (35%). Kappa statistic showed a very good agreement (K=0.62, P<0.001) between consultants' diagnosis and the specialists findings. This agreement for breast cancer diagnosis, although lower, was also good (K=0.55, P<0.001).


CONCLUSIONS
The study findings indicate that consultants may diagnose and manage some common conditions via telephone, usually following the established protocols. More studies are needed to determine the economic and logistic advantages of telephone consultations.


CONCLUSIONS
By assessment of strength and weakness of this service, it is possible to develop an easy to use information system for women who need breast care.
Haghighat
Shahpar
S
Iranian Center for Breast Cancer, Tehran, Iran. Haghighat@jdcord.jd.ac.ir
Yunesian
Masud
M
Akbari
Mohammad Esmail
ME
Ansari
Maryam
M
Montazeri
Ali
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001941:Breast Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007492:Iran; D008875:Middle Aged; D009819:Office Visits; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D019114:Remote Consultation; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D016037:Single-Blind Method