ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: Describe the time elapsed from the diagnosis to treatment with chemotherapy for patients with breast and lung cancer at public and private hospitals in Buenos Aires. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Three public and three private academic hospitals in Buenos Aires. PARTICIPANTS: Patients with breast (n = 168) or lung cancer (n = 100) diagnosis treated with chemotherapy. MAIN OUTCOMES MEASURES: Clinical and sociodemographic data were collected in a stratified sample. We used the Kaplan-Meier estimator to analyse the time elapsed and the log rank test to compare both groups. RESULTS: For breast cancer patients, median time elapsed between diagnosis and treatment with chemotherapy was 76 days (95% CI: 64-86) in public and 60 days (95% CI: 52-65) in private hospitals (P = 0.0001). For adjuvant and neoadjuvant treatments, median time was 130 (95% CI: 109-159) versus 64 (95% CI: 56-73) days (P < 0.0001) and 57 days (95% CI: 49-75) versus 26 (95% CI: 16-41) days, respectively (P = 0.0002). There were no significant differences in the time from first consultation to diagnosis. In patients with lung cancer, median time from diagnosis to treatment was 71 days (95% CI: 60-83) in public hospitals and 31 days (95% CI: 24-39) in private hospitals (P = 0.0002). In the metastatic setting, median time to treatment was 63 days (95% CI: 45-83) in public and 33 (95% CI: 26-44) days in private hospitals (P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: There are significant disparity in the access to treatment with chemotherapy for patients in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Subject(s)
Breast Neoplasms/drug therapy , Health Services Accessibility/statistics & numerical data , Lung Neoplasms/drug therapy , Time-to-Treatment/statistics & numerical data , Adult , Aged , Argentina , Chemotherapy, Adjuvant/statistics & numerical data , Cohort Studies , Female , Hospitals, Private/statistics & numerical data , Hospitals, Public/statistics & numerical data , Hospitals, Teaching/statistics & numerical data , Humans , Male , Middle Aged , Neoadjuvant Therapy/statistics & numerical data , Retrospective StudiesABSTRACT
Tumorlets are pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors smaller than 0.5 cm. They are benign and usually asymptomatic. Their diagnosis is important so as to differentiate them from other neuroendocrine pathologies that require therapeutic intervention. We report a case of such entity and a discussion on the subject that can contribute to highlight the importance of diagnosing this entity.
Subject(s)
Carcinoid Tumor/pathology , Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine/pathology , Lung Neoplasms/pathology , Neoplasms, Second Primary/pathology , Carcinoid Tumor/therapy , Carcinoma, Neuroendocrine/therapy , Diagnosis, Differential , Female , Humans , Lung Neoplasms/therapy , Middle Aged , Neoplasms, Second Primary/therapyABSTRACT
Los tumorlets son tumores neuroendocrinos pulmonares menores a 0.5 cm, de evolución benigna y habitualmente asintomáticos. Su diagnóstico es importante para realizar la diferenciación con otras afecciones neuroendocrinas y enfermedad metastásica de otro origen, que requerirán una intervención terapéutica. Se presenta un caso de dicha entidad asociada a otros tumores.
Tumorlets are pulmonary neuroendocrine tumors smaller than 0.5 cm. They are benign and usually asymptomatic. Their diagnosis is important so as to differentiate them from other neuroendocrine pathologies that require therapeutic intervention. We report a case of such entity and a discussion on the subject that can contribute to highlight the importance of diagnosing this entity.