This Article  • References  • Full text PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Similar articles in JAMA  Social Bookmarking   What's this?

Julian K. Quattlebaum, Jr, MD
Savannah, Ga

JAMA. 1992;267(15):2038.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text PDF and any section headings.

To the Editor.

—Lazovich et al¹ in essence suggest devising methods to force surgeons to use breast-conserving surgery (BCS) rather than mastectomy for stage I and II breast cancer, as recommended by the National Institutes of Health.

It strikes me that the thrust of this article is political rather than scientific, and I must wonder if this is a harbinger of the way health care is to be provided in this country in the future.

While my intent is not to call into question the erudition of the Consensus Development Conference, given the fact that approximately one third of breasts with stage I and II cancers have occult lesions elsewhere that require therapy, and given the fact that the actuarial recurrence rate in breasts treated by lumpectomy and radiation (BCS) is 16% at 10 years, it has occurred to me and many of my colleagues that a treatment that . . . [Full Text PDF of this Article]

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter     What's this?