Eye-opening stat. More than half of breast cancer patients had their treatment plan changed after being reviewed by a tumor board:
Researchers looked at the records of 149 consecutive patients referred to the U-M Cancer Center’s multidisciplinary breast tumor board for a second opinion. The patients had already been diagnosed with breast cancer after having undergone initial evaluation, breast imaging and biopsy, and they already had a treatment recommendation from another hospital or care provider.
Overall, 52 percent of the patients evaluated had one or more changes in their recommendations for surgery. The changes were a result of breast imaging specialists reading a mammogram differently or breast pathologists interpreting biopsy results differently. In some cases, the initial recommendation was changed after the case was reviewed by medical oncologists and radiation oncologists prior to surgery.
