I wouldn't be at all surprised to learn their findings are correct. Back in 1990, the National Institutes of Health held a conference on the best treatments for breast cancer. This consensus conference determined that treatment that left the breast intact, a lumpectomy, is generally considered more desirable for early-stage breast cancer, but it must be accompanied by radiation. The Lancet , the researchers looked at data on almost 145,000 women from a National Cancer Institute registry. There is a consensus on what sort of treatment patients should get, but perhaps some patients fail to actually get it, because no one is responsible for her entire course of treatment.
Cancer care is made up of several components, each managed by a different sort of physician.
Patients are discussed by the whole team and are therefore more likely to receive appropriate treatment. I suspect lack of coordination and lack of appropriate care may be found more often when the physician works on his own, rather than as part of a team. Sainsbury is a consultant breast surgeon at Huddersfield Royal Infirmary in Huddersfield, England. Patients here often have surgery and then are referred to a medical oncologist and a radiation oncologist, but these physicians are not acting as a unified care team. In addition, patients may be reluctant to have radiation therapy because it involves daily treatment for six weeks, he says.