Value analysis of postoperative staging imaging for asymptomatic, early-stage breast cancer: implications of clinical variation on utility and cost

摘要

BACKGROUND: Routine staging imaging for early-stage breast cancer is not recommended. Despite this, there is clinical practice variation with imaging studies obtained for asymptomatic patients with a positive sentinel node (SN+). We characterize the utility, cost, and clinical implications of imaging studies obtained in asymptomatic SN+ patients.