Annals of Oncology Advance Access published online on June 25, 2009
Annals of Oncology, doi:10.1093/annonc/mdp196
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Quality assurance for radical hysterectomy for cervical cancer: the view of the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer—Gynecological Cancer Group (EORTC-GCG)
1 EORTC Headquarters, Brussels
2 Division of Gynaecological Oncology, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, University Hospitals Leuven, Belgium
3 Beatson Oncology Centre, Gartnavel General Hospital, Glasgow, UK
4 Division Medical Oncology, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, Nijmegen, The Netherlands
* Correspondence to: Dr L. Verleye, EORTC Headquarters, Avenue E. Mounierlaan 83/11, B-1200 Brussels, Belgium. Tel: +32-2-774-10-73; Fax: +32-2-771-38-10; E-mail: Leen.Verleye{at}eortc.be
Radical hysterectomy combined with a pelvic lymphadenectomy or chemoradiation are traditionally the mainstays of treatment of International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics stages Ia2–IIa cervical cancer. The quality of radical surgery for cervical cancer influences local tumor control and survival. Hence, it is important to optimize and ensure the quality of surgical care for cervical cancer patients. In this paper, we discuss factors that are related to outcome after radical hysterectomy and propose a set of quality indicators that can be used to audit and improve the quality of surgical care for cervical cancer patients.
quality assurance, radical hysterectomy, surgery, uterine cervical neoplasms
Received for publication November 26, 2008. Revision received March 2, 2009. Accepted for publication March 3, 2009.