WEDNESDAY, Feb. 1 (HealthDay News) -- The volume of procedures performed by either a hospital or a surgeon do not appear to have a major impact on ovarian cancer survival, but gynecologic oncologists achieve better outcomes than non-specialist surgeons, according to two studies in the Feb. 1 issue of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute.
Deborah Schrag, M.D., of the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City, and colleagues studied data on 2,952 patients aged 65 or older who had surgery for ovarian cancer between 1992 and 1999. They found that neither the hospital nor the doctor volumes were strong predictors of survival outcomes following surgery.
Craig C. Earle, M.D., of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, and colleagues analyzed data on 3,067 women treated surgically for removal of ovarian cancer. Overall, 33% of the procedures were conducted by gynecologic oncologists, 45% by general gynecologists and 22% by general surgeons. The best outcomes were achieved by gynecologic oncologists, while general gynecologists were only marginally behind, with general surgeons a distant third.
"Our data support professional societies' recommendations that it is preferable for ovarian cancer patients to be operated on by gynecologic oncologists when possible," Earle and colleagues conclude.
Abstract
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Abstract
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