Highly significant improvement in guideline adherence, relapse-free and overall survival in breast cancer patients when treated at certified breast cancer centres: An evaluation of 8323 patients.

OBJECTIVES

Certified multi-disciplinary breast cancer centres (CBCs) have been established worldwide. Development of CBCs, guideline-adherent systemic therapy and surgical management should now show an impact on outcomes. This analysis aimed to investigate whether guideline adherence (GA) rates, relapse-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS) have significantly improved at CBCs compared to the pre-certification period.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

8323 patients with primary breast cancer were treated in 17 German CBCs, which had been certified between 2003 and 2007 [2003 (n = 1), 2004 (n = 6), 2005 (n = 3), 2006 (n = 6) and 2007 (n = 1)]. 3544 patients (42.6%) were treated before certification and 4779 patients (57.4%) after certification.

RESULTS AND CONCLUSION

A highly significant (p < 0.001) difference in 100%-GA was found between the various hospitals before certification (min 25.0%; max 54.6%). In 2008, when all participating hospitals were certified, the GA rate was 61.8% (min 39.5%, max 74.4%) and 69.2% (min 45.9%, max 86.4%) for patients <75 y (n = 6675). The difference between pre-certification 100%-GA (46.9%) and post-certification (57.2%) was highly significant (p < 0.001). RFS and OS were both significantly better after certification compared to the pre-certification period (RFS: HR = 0.79; 95% CI: 0.68-0.92; p = 0.003; OS: HR = 0.75; 95% CI: 0.65-0.85; p < 0.001). 5-year RFS (OS) of patients <75 y was 89.6% (85.4%) pre-certification and 91.4% (89.5%) post-certification. Since improvement in GA and outcomes correlated as well, GA remains a highly significant prognostic factor for RFS and OS regardless of NPI, intrinsic subtype and adjuvant systemic therapy. This suggests that the certification process is strongly associated with improvements in outcome.