TY - JOUR
T1 - Follow-Up after Curative Surgical Treatment of Soft-Tissue Sarcoma for Early Detection of Recurrence
T2 - Which Patients Have More or Fewer Visits than Advised in Guidelines?
AU - Kruiswijk, Anouk A.
AU - Kuhrij, Laurien S.
AU - Dorleijn, Desiree M.J.
AU - van de Sande, Michiel A.J.
AU - van Bodegom-Vos, Leti
AU - Marang-van de Mheen, Perla J.
PY - 2023
Y1 - 2023
N2 - Introduction: Follow-up (FU) in soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) patients is designed for early detection of disease recurrence. Current guidelines are not evidenced-based and not tailored to patient or tumor characteristics, so they remain debated, particularly given concerns about cost, radiation frequency, and over-testing. This study assesses the extent to which STS patients received guideline-concordant FU and to characterize which type of patients received more or fewer visits than advised. Methods: All STS patients surgically treated at the Leiden University Medical Center between 2000–2020 were included. For each patient, along with individual characteristics, all radiological examinations from FU start up to 5 years were included and compared to guidelines. Recurrence was defined as local/regional recurrence or metastasis. Results: A total of 394 patients was included, of whom 250 patients had a high-grade tumor (63.5%). Only 24% of patients received the advised three FU visits in the first year. More FU visits were observed in younger patients and those diagnosed with a high-grade tumor. Among patients with a recurrence, 10% received fewer visits than advised, while 28% of patients without a recurrence received more visits than advised. Conclusions: A minority of STS patients received guideline-concordant FU visits, suggesting that clinicians seem to incorporate recurrence risk in decisions on FU frequency.
AB - Introduction: Follow-up (FU) in soft-tissue sarcoma (STS) patients is designed for early detection of disease recurrence. Current guidelines are not evidenced-based and not tailored to patient or tumor characteristics, so they remain debated, particularly given concerns about cost, radiation frequency, and over-testing. This study assesses the extent to which STS patients received guideline-concordant FU and to characterize which type of patients received more or fewer visits than advised. Methods: All STS patients surgically treated at the Leiden University Medical Center between 2000–2020 were included. For each patient, along with individual characteristics, all radiological examinations from FU start up to 5 years were included and compared to guidelines. Recurrence was defined as local/regional recurrence or metastasis. Results: A total of 394 patients was included, of whom 250 patients had a high-grade tumor (63.5%). Only 24% of patients received the advised three FU visits in the first year. More FU visits were observed in younger patients and those diagnosed with a high-grade tumor. Among patients with a recurrence, 10% received fewer visits than advised, while 28% of patients without a recurrence received more visits than advised. Conclusions: A minority of STS patients received guideline-concordant FU visits, suggesting that clinicians seem to incorporate recurrence risk in decisions on FU frequency.
KW - follow-up
KW - guidelines
KW - overuse
KW - personalized care
KW - soft-tissue sarcoma
KW - surveillance
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85172927438&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.3390/cancers15184617
DO - 10.3390/cancers15184617
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85172927438
SN - 2072-6694
VL - 15
JO - Cancers
JF - Cancers
IS - 18
M1 - 4617
ER -