This article is more than 5 years old. Information may no longer be current.
Society of Surgical Oncology releases ‘Choosing Wisely’ recommendations
Click Here to Manage Email Alerts
The Society of Surgical Oncology identified five specific tests and procedures that are commonly performed but may not be necessary.
The society’s effort was part of the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM) Foundation’s Choosing Wisely campaign, which encourages physicians and patients to have conversations about what aspects of care truly are necessary.
Daniel G. Coit
“As a partner to surgeons and health care providers around the globe, we have a responsibility to advance and improve the treatment of cancer, and that means encouraging healthy dialogue between patients and their physicians,” Daniel G. Coit, MD, president of the Society of Surgical Oncology, said in a press release.
The society recommended surgical oncologists do not:
routinely use sentinel node biopsy in clinically node-negative women aged 70 years or older who have hormone receptor–positive invasive breast cancer;
use breast MRI for breast cancer screening in average-risk women;
obtain routine blood work — including complete blood count and liver function tests — other than a carcinoembryonic antigen level during surveillance for colorectal cancer;
perform routine PET-CT in the initial staging of localized colon or rectal cancer, or as part of routine surveillance for patients who have been curatively treated for colon or rectal cancer; and
routinely order imaging studies for staging purposes on patients newly diagnosed with localized primary cutaneous melanoma unless there is suspicion for metastatic disease based on history and physical exam.
“More care is not always better care, and there are many situations where eliminating unnecessary or nonevidence-based testing results in better and more cost-efficient care,” said Coit, attending surgeon at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center and professor of surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine. “It’s critical for the physician and patient to communicate in order to make the best possible decision. The recommendations released are a starting point for these conversations.”
The ABIM Foundation launched the Choosing Wisely campaign in 2012 as part of an effort to reduce wasteful spending without sacrificing quality care.
Sandra L. Wong
Nearly 100 medical specialty entities, regional health collaboratives and consumer partners have joined the effort. Participants have identified more than 475 tests and procedures that experts suggest are frequently offered but are not supported by evidence. In some cases, the risks outweigh the benefits.
“Our goals of delivering the best possible surgical oncology care align with the campaign’s overarching goals of promoting high-quality and high-value care,” Sandra L. Wong, MD, MS, chair of surgery at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center/The Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth and the Society of Surgical Oncology’s quality committee chair, said in the release. “We hope that our set of evidence-based recommendations supports the avoidance of unnecessary testing and procedures for our patients.”