Only 11% of primary care physicians (in Wisconsin) believe that patients with early-stage lung cancer can benefit

Not enough info IMO
J

http://cancer.caring4health.com/Pro.News.37162.aspx
Primary Care Physicians Tend to Not Understand Role of Chemotherapy in
Lung Cancer Patients
By Charles H. Weaver, MD
OncoEd Reporter
Date Created: 6/5/2006
Date Modified: 6/5/2006

Only 11% of primary care physicians believe that patients with early-stage
lung cancer can achieve benefit from treatment with chemotherapy,
resulting in potentially suboptimal referral rates of these patients to
oncologists. These results were recently reported at the 2006 annual
meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO).

Many patients are initially diagnosed with cancer under the care of their
primary care physician. It is then the responsibility of the primary care
physician to either treat the patient or provide an appropriate referral
to a specialist. However, some primary care physicians may not be
appropriately referring some patients diagnosed with cancer.

Researchers from the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public
Health in Madison, Wisconsin, recently conducted a study in which 1,132
primary care physicians in Wiscosin were surveyed. The survey included
questions regarding the likeliness of referrals among patients with breast
and lung cancer, the benefit of chemotherapy at different stages of these
diseases, as well as questions regarding a scenario of a 53-year old woman
who was diagnosed with either stage 1b non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC),
or 1b breast cancer. Approximately 60% (n= 672) of the surveyed physicians
completed and returned the surveys.

* 24% believed that patients with early breast cancer could benefit
from chemotherapy.
* 11% believed that patients with early lung cancer could benefit
from chemotherapy.
* 41% believed that patents with metastatic breast cancer could
benefit from chemotherapy.
* 37% believed that patients with metastatic lung cancer could
benefit from chemotherapy.
* Patients diagnosed with lung cancer were often referred for
symptom control, not disease control.

The researchers concluded that a large portion of primary care physicians
do not entirely understand the role of chemotherapy in different stages of
cancer, particularly lung cancer. This potentially leads to a less than
appropriate referral rate of these patients to medical oncologists to
continue their care.

Reference: Wassenaar T, Eickhoff J, Jarzemsky D, et al. Differences in
Primary Care Clinician?s Approach to Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC)
Patients Compared to Breast Cancer (BrCa). Proceedings from the 42nd
Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Atlanta, GA.
June 2006. Abstract # 7041.

This is an article from OncoEd, a division of Cancer Consultants, Inc.

© 1998-2006 CancerConsultants.com All Rights Reserved.

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