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Is lymph node count an ideal quality indicator for cancer care?
Author(s) -
Baxter Nancy N.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
journal of surgical oncology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.201
H-Index - 111
eISSN - 1096-9098
pISSN - 0022-4790
DOI - 10.1002/jso.21197
Subject(s) - medicine , lymph node , population , cancer , quality (philosophy) , node (physics) , lymph , oncology , surgery , pathology , environmental health , philosophy , structural engineering , epistemology , engineering
Although lymph node count has substantial appeal as a quality indicator because of the ease of measurement, the presence of variation in the population, the association with survival for many cancers, and the previous success of quality intervention programs, improvements in patient outcome by increasing lymph node counts have not yet been demonstrated. This article discusses potential pitfalls in the use of lymph node count as a quality indicator. J. Surg. Oncol. 2009;99:265–268. © 2008 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.