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2011 ASCO Poster Presentation Highlights NCCN Research

By Jonathan Vandergrift, MS, Senior Analyst and Carrie Capili, Communications Specialist, Editor

The recent ASCO 47th Annual Meeting held June 3 - 7, 2011, at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL, featured a poster presentation submitted and authored by members of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network® (NCCN®) staff. The title of the poster presentation was "Timing in adjuvant chemotherapy (CTX) initiation among women with breast cancer (BC) at National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) centers: An analysis from the NCCN Outcomes Database."

The study was presented by Jonathan Vandergrift, MS, Senior Analyst, NCCN. Vandergrift and colleagues utilized the NCCN Oncology Outcomes database to examine timing in the initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy following diagnosis of breast cancer. They observed an overall mean of 12 weeks between diagnosis and adjuvant chemotherapy. The largest impact on prolongation from diagnosis to initiation of adjuvant chemotherapy were observed for patients receiving multiple excisions (+2.1 weeks longer, p<0.001), breast reconstruction (+2.5 weeks longer, p<0.001), or 21-gene RT-PCR assay (2.2 weeks, p<0.001). Opportunities for improvement at the system level were observed including among patients whom transfer care into the NCCN center after diagnosis (+1.2 weeks longer, p<0.001) and among patients with Medicaid (+2.6 weeks longer, p<0.001) or Medicare (+0.6 weeks longer, p<0.05) versus a managed care payer. These system level issues also appear to disproportionately impact African-American women in comparison to Caucasian women.

To view the abstract, visit http://abstract.asco.org/AbstView_102_83989.html.

 

 

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