Patterns of care for non-small cell lung cancer patients in Belgium: A population-based study.

Guidelines recommend surgery for Stage I-II, chemoradiation for Stage III and systemic therapy for Stage IV non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). However, patient related factors and patient preferences influence treatment decisions. We investigated patterns of care for Belgian NSCLC patients in 2010-2011, based on population-based data from the Belgian Cancer Registry and administrative databases. The relationship between patient characteristics, institutional diagnostic volume, type of treatment and survival was investigated. Overall, 20.8% of patients received no oncological treatment. 59% and 22.1% of Stage I-II patients received primary surgery or (chemo)radiation respectively. 34% of Stage III patients received chemoradiation and 17% of Stage IIIA patients had surgery. 70% of Stage IV patients received chemotherapy or targeted therapy. Moderate variability between centres was observed. For Stage IV, systemic therapy was less frequently used in higher volume centres and 1-year survival was lower in centres that had ≥ 50 new patients yearly. Although not all NSCLC patients received treatment as ideally recommended by guidelines, these results do not necessarily represent poor quality of care as patient characteristics and preferences need to be taken into account. Treatment options targeted towards patients with co-morbidity or unfit patients is warranted to improve outcomes of all NSCLC patients.

Quality indicators for oesophageal and gastric cancer: a population-based study in Belgium, 2004-2008.

This study aimed at developing and measuring quality indicators for oesophageal cancer (OC) and gastric cancer (GC) and to support quality improvement for practitioners. Quality indicators were identified from a systematic literature search including clinical guidelines. The selection process involved experts evaluating relevance, reliability, interpretability and actionability of each indicator. Three national databases were linked: the cancer registry, the population registry and the claims database. Completeness and validity of the data were validated before being measured for 10,660 patients diagnosed between 2004 and 2008. From a final set of 29 indicators, 18 were measurable using the available data. In 2008, less than 50% of patients were discussed at a multidisciplinary team meeting and less than 90% underwent a computed tomography scan 1 month after incidence date for cancer staging. Five-year relative survival was 22% for OC and 34.3% for GC. The post-operative mortality in OC patients was 4.8% (30 days) and 9.9% (90 days), whereas it reached 5.6 and 12.0% respectively in GC patients. This study demonstrates the feasibility to develop a set of quality indicators for gastro-oesophageal cancer. A mixed picture of the quality of care was illustrated for some relevant care processes. Nevertheless, 5-year survival is higher than reported in neighbouring countries.

Is there an increased incidence of surgically removed thyroid carcinoma in Belgium ten years after Chernobyl? A study of hospital discharge data.

In order to provide some answers to the much debated subject of the consequences of the Chernobyl accident, this study attempts to measure the incidence of surgically removed thyroid cancers in Belgium ten years following the explosion. The analysis was made from the hospital discharge data between 1993 and 1998. It offers the advantage of national coverage in spite of certain validity limits. The results show an increase in surgically removed thyroid cancers, which is not, however, evident in the more susceptible younger generation who were involved at the time of the accident. Furthermore, the geographic distribution of the incidence is more marked in the south of the country, unaffected by the radioactive iodine contamination of 1986, which was more prevalent in the east of the country. The study of the type of surgery involved shows a rise in the proportion of total thyroidectomies. These findings are in favour of the hypothesis of a causal effect linking the increased incidence of thyroid cancers to medical practice and surgery in particular and not to the consequence of the possible contamination.