title: Audit system on Quality of breast cancer diagnosis and Treatment (QT): results of quality indicators on screen-detected lesions in Italy, 2007.
abstract: This survey, conducted by the Italian Breast Screening Network (GISMa), collects individual data yearly on about 50% of all screen-detected, operated lesions in Italy. The 2007 results show good overall quality of diagnosis and treatment and an improving trend over time. Critical issues were identified concerning waiting times, compliance with the recommendations on not performing frozen section examination on small lesions and on performing specimen X-rays. Preoperative diagnosis reached the acceptable target, but there is a large variation between Regions and programmes. For more than 80%of screen-detected invasive cancers the sentinel lymph node technique (SLN) was performed on the axilla, avoiding a large number of potentially harmful dissections. On the other hand, potential overuse of SLN deserves further investigation. The detailed results have been distributed, also by means of a web data-warehouse, to regional and local screening programmes in order to allow multidisciplinary discussion and identification of the appropriate solutions to any problem documented by the data. Specialist Breast Units with adequate case volume and enough resources would provide the best setting for making audits effective in producing quality improvements with a shorter waiting times.
authors.affiliation: CPO Piemonte, Turin.
authors.forename: Maria Piera
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Mano
authors.forename: Antonio
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ponti
authors.forename: Mariano
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tomatis
authors.forename: Diego
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Baiocchi
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Barca
authors.forename: Rosa
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Berti
authors.forename: Rita
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Bordon
authors.forename: Denise
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Casella
authors.forename: Daria
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Delrio
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Donati
authors.forename: Fabio
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Falcini
authors.forename: Alfonso
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Frigerio
authors.forename: Alessia
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Furini
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mantellini
authors.forename: Carlo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Naldoni
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Pagano
authors.forename: Paola
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Piccini
authors.forename: Alessandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ravaioli
authors.forename: Donatella
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Rodella
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sapino
authors.forename: Maria Laura
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Sedda
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Taffurelli
authors.forename: Marcello
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vettorazzi
authors.forename: Manuel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zorzi
authors.forename: Luigi
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Cataliotti
authors.forename: Nereo
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Segnan
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000601:surgery*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007558:Italy; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000592:standards*; D008875:Middle Aged; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*