TY - JOUR
T1 - Detection of colon cancer recurrences during follow-up care by general practitioners vs surgeons
AU - Vos, Julien A M
AU - Sert, Edanur
AU - Busschers, Wim B
AU - Duineveld, Laura A M
AU - Wieldraaijer, Thijs
AU - Wind, Jan
AU - Donkervoort, Sandra C
AU - Govaert, Marc J P M
AU - Beverdam, Frédérique H
AU - Smits, Anke B
AU - Bemelman, Willem A
AU - Heuff, Gijsbert
AU - van Weert, Henk C P M
AU - van Asselt, Kristel M
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press.
PY - 2023/5/8
Y1 - 2023/5/8
N2 - BACKGROUND: In the I CARE study, colon cancer patients were randomly assigned to receive follow-up care from either a general practitioner (GP) or a surgeon. Here, we address a secondary outcome, namely, detection of recurrences and effect on time to detection of transferring care from surgeon to GP.METHODS: Pattern, stage, and treatment of recurrences were described after 3 years. Time to event was defined as date of surgery, until date of recurrence or last follow-up, with death as competing event. Effects on time to recurrence and death were estimated as hazard ratios (HRs) using Cox regression. Restricted mean survival times were estimated.RESULTS: Of 303 patients, 141 were randomly assigned to the GP and 162 to the surgeon. Patients were male (67%) with a mean age of 68.0 (8.4) years. During follow-up, 46 recurrences were detected; 18 (13%) in the GP vs 28 (17%) in the surgeon group. Most recurrences were detected via abnormal follow-up tests (74%) and treated with curative intent (59%). Hazard ratio for recurrence was 0.75 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.41 to 1.36) in GP vs surgeon group. Patients in the GP group remained in the disease-free state slightly longer (2.76 vs 2.71 years). Of the patients, 38 died during follow-up; 15 (11%) in the GP vs 23 (14%) in the surgeon group. Of these, 21 (55%) deaths were related to colon cancer. There were no differences in overall deaths between the groups (HR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.39 to 1.46).CONCLUSION: Follow-up provided by GPs vs surgeons leads to similar detection of recurrences. Also, no differences in mortality were found.
AB - BACKGROUND: In the I CARE study, colon cancer patients were randomly assigned to receive follow-up care from either a general practitioner (GP) or a surgeon. Here, we address a secondary outcome, namely, detection of recurrences and effect on time to detection of transferring care from surgeon to GP.METHODS: Pattern, stage, and treatment of recurrences were described after 3 years. Time to event was defined as date of surgery, until date of recurrence or last follow-up, with death as competing event. Effects on time to recurrence and death were estimated as hazard ratios (HRs) using Cox regression. Restricted mean survival times were estimated.RESULTS: Of 303 patients, 141 were randomly assigned to the GP and 162 to the surgeon. Patients were male (67%) with a mean age of 68.0 (8.4) years. During follow-up, 46 recurrences were detected; 18 (13%) in the GP vs 28 (17%) in the surgeon group. Most recurrences were detected via abnormal follow-up tests (74%) and treated with curative intent (59%). Hazard ratio for recurrence was 0.75 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.41 to 1.36) in GP vs surgeon group. Patients in the GP group remained in the disease-free state slightly longer (2.76 vs 2.71 years). Of the patients, 38 died during follow-up; 15 (11%) in the GP vs 23 (14%) in the surgeon group. Of these, 21 (55%) deaths were related to colon cancer. There were no differences in overall deaths between the groups (HR = 0.76, 95% CI = 0.39 to 1.46).CONCLUSION: Follow-up provided by GPs vs surgeons leads to similar detection of recurrences. Also, no differences in mortality were found.
KW - Aftercare
KW - Aged
KW - Colonic Neoplasms/diagnosis
KW - Female
KW - Follow-Up Studies
KW - General Practitioners
KW - Humans
KW - Male
KW - Neoplasm Recurrence, Local/diagnosis
KW - Surgeons
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85153706848&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1093/jnci/djad019
DO - 10.1093/jnci/djad019
M3 - Article
C2 - 36715623
SN - 0027-8874
VL - 115
SP - 523
EP - 529
JO - Journal of the National Cancer Institute
JF - Journal of the National Cancer Institute
IS - 5
M1 - doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djad019
ER -