Trends in hospital volume and patterns of referral for women with gynecologic cancers: adherence to treatment guidelines for ovarian cancer as a measure of quality care.

摘要

Two complementary publications in the June 2013 edition of Obstetrics & Gynecol-ogy address referral patterns, centralization of care, surgical volume, and quality assurance in the treatment of gynecologic malignancy.1'2 The article by Wright and colleagues uses Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results data to show a modest change in referral patterns over the past decade in patients with ovarian cancer. Referrals to top-decile-by-volume hospitals increased from 37.8% in 2000-2001 to only 41.4% in 2006-2007; mean hospital volume increased from 3.1 cases per year to only 3.4 cases per year.