European Journal of Surgical Oncology
Volume 36 , Pages S64-S73 , September 2010

Disparities in quality of care for colon cancer between hospitals in the Netherlands

  • M.A.G. Elferink

      Affiliations

    • Department of Research, Comprehensive Cancer Centre North East, AH Groningen, The Netherlands
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorresponding author. Tel.: +31 (0) 88 2345500; fax: +31 (0) 88 2345599.
  • ,
  • M.W.J.M. Wouters

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, RC Leiden, The Netherlands
    • Department of Surgery, Netherlands Cancer Institute, Antoni van Leeuwenhoek Hospital, BE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • P. Krijnen

      Affiliations

    • Leiden Cancer Registry, Comprehensive Cancer Centre West, Schuttersveld 4, ZA Leiden, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • V.E.P.P. Lemmens

      Affiliations

    • Department of Research, Comprehensive Cancer Centre South, AE Eindhoven, The Netherlands
    • Department of Public Health, Erasmus University Medical Centre, CA Rotterdam, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • M.L.E.A. Jansen-Landheer

      Affiliations

    • Comprehensive Cancer Centre Amsterdam, AE Amsterdam, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • C.J.H. van de Velde

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, RC Leiden, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • S. Siesling

      Affiliations

    • Department of Research, Comprehensive Cancer Centre North East, AH Groningen, The Netherlands
    • Department of Health Technology and Services Research, University of Twente, AE Enschede, The Netherlands
  • ,
  • R.A.E.M. Tollenaar

      Affiliations

    • Department of Surgery, Leiden University Medical Centre, RC Leiden, The Netherlands

,Accepted 27 May 2010.

References 

  1. Hewitt M, Simone J. Ensuring quality cancer care. Washington DC: National Academy Press; 1999;
  2. Birkmeyer JD, Siewers AE, Finlayson EV, et al. Hospital volume and surgical mortality in the United States. N Engl J Med. 2002;346(15):1128–1137
  3. Birkmeyer JD, Stukel TA, Siewers AE, Goodney PP, Wennberg DE, Lucas FL. Surgeon volume and operative mortality in the United States. N Engl J Med. 2003;349(22):2117–2127
  4. Chowdhury MM, Dagash H, Pierro A. A systematic review of the impact of volume of surgery and specialization on patient outcome. Br J Surg. 2007;94(2):145–161
  5. Comprehensive Cancer Centres. <http://www.cancerregistry.nl> [accessed 18.5.2009].
  6. Statistics Netherlands. <http://statline.cbs.nl/StatWeb> [accessed 3.5.2009].
  7. Benson AB, Schrag D, Somerfield MR, et al. American Society of Clinical Oncology recommendations on adjuvant chemotherapy for stage II colon cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2004;22(16):3408–3419
  8. Berger AC, Sigurdson ER, LeVoyer T, et al. Colon cancer survival is associated with decreasing ratio of metastatic to examined lymph nodes. J Clin Oncol. 2005;23(34):8706–8712
  9. Johnson PM, Porter GA, Ricciardi R, Baxter NN. Increasing negative lymph node count is independently associated with improved long-term survival in stage IIIB and IIIC colon cancer. J Clin Oncol. 2006;24(22):3570–3575
  10. National Working Group on Gastrointestinal Cancers. Guideline: colon cancer, <http://www.oncoline.nl> [accessed 16.10.2009].
  11. Lemmens VE, van Lijnschoten I, Janssen-Heijnen ML, Rutten HJ, Verheij CD, Coebergh JW. Pathology practice patterns affect lymph node evaluation and outcome of colon cancer: a population-based study. Ann Oncol. 2006;17(12):1803–1809
  12. Van Steenbergen LN, Rutten HJ, Creemers GJ, Pruijt JF, Coebergh JW, Lemmens VE. Large age and hospital-dependent variation in administration of adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer in southern Netherlands. Ann Oncol. 2010;21(6):1273–1278
  13. Chaudhry R, Goel V, Sawka C. Breast cancer survival by teaching status of the initial treating hospital. CMAJ. 2001;164(2):183–188
  14. Cheung MC, Hamilton K, Sherman R, et al. Impact of teaching facility status and high-volume centers on outcomes for lung cancer resection: an examination of 13,469 surgical patients. Ann Surg Oncol. 2009;16(1):3–13
  15. Holm T, Johansson H, Cedermark B, Ekelund G, Rutqvist LE. Influence of hospital- and surgeon-related factors on outcome after treatment of rectal cancer with or without preoperative radiotherapy. Br J Surg. 1997;84(5):657–663
  16. Begg CB, Cramer LD, Hoskins WJ, Brennan MF. Impact of hospital volume on operative mortality for major cancer surgery. J Am Med Assoc. 1998;280(20):1747–1751
  17. Halm EA, Lee C, Chassin MR. Is volume related to outcome in health care? A systematic review and methodologic critique of the literature. Ann Intern Med. 2002;137(6):511–520
  18. Simunovic M, Rempel E, Theriault ME, et al. Influence of hospital characteristics on operative death and survival of patients after major cancer surgery in Ontario. Can J Surg. 2006;49(4):251–258
  19. Parry JM, Collins S, Mathers J, Scott NA, Woodman CB. Influence of volume of work on the outcome of treatment for patients with colorectal cancer. Br J Surg. 1999;86(4):475–481
  20. Harmon JW, Tang DG, Gordon TA, et al. Hospital volume can serve as a surrogate for surgeon volume for achieving excellent outcomes in colorectal resection. Ann Surg. 1999;230(3):404–411
  21. Hannan EL, Radzyner M, Rubin D, Dougherty J, Brennan MF. The influence of hospital and surgeon volume on in-hospital mortality for colectomy, gastrectomy, and lung lobectomy in patients with cancer. Surgery. 2002;131(1):6–15
  22. Finlayson EV, Goodney PP, Birkmeyer JD. Hospital volume and operative mortality in cancer surgery: a national study. Arch Surg. 2003;138(7):721–725
  23. Dimick JB, Cowan JA, Upchurch GR, Colletti LM. Hospital volume and surgical outcomes for elderly patients with colorectal cancer in the United States. J Surg Res. 2003;114(1):50–56
  24. Blomqvist P, Ekbom A, Nyren O, Krusemo U, Bergstrom R, Adami HO. Survival after colon cancer 1973–1990 in Sweden. Convergence between catchment areas. Ann Surg. 1997;225(2):208–216
  25. Visser O, Coebergh JWW, Van Dijck JAAM, Siesling S. Incidence of cancer in the Netherlands 1998. Utrecht: Vereniging van Integrale Kankercentra; 2002;
  26. In:  Fritz A,  Percy C,  Jack A, et al. editor. International classification of diseases for oncology. 3rd ed. Geneva: WHO; 2000;
  27. In:  Wittekind C,  Greene FL,  Hutter RVP,  Klimpfinger M,  Sobin LH editor. TNM atlas. Berlin: Springer-Verlag; 2004;
  28. Schouten LJ, Jager JJ, van den Brandt PA. Quality of cancer registry data: a comparison of data provided by clinicians with those of registration personnel. Br J Cancer. 1993;68(5):974–977
  29. Schouten LJ, Hoppener P, van den Brandt PA, Knottnerus JA, Jager JJ. Completeness of cancer registration in Limburg, The Netherlands. Int J Epidemiol. 1993;22(3):369–376
  30. Agresti A, Coul BA. Approximate is better than “exact” for interval estimation of binomial proportions. Am Stat. 1998;52(2):119–126
  31. Spiegelhalter DJ. Funnel plots for comparing institutional performance. Stat Med. 2005;24(8):1185–1202
  32. Ederer F, Heise H. Instructions to IBM 650 programmers in processing survival computations. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute; 1959;
  33. Moertel CG, Fleming TR, MacDonald JS, et al. Fluorouracil plus levamisole as effective adjuvant therapy after resection of stage III colon carcinoma: a final report. Ann Intern Med. 1995;122(5):321–326
  34. Bouhier K, Maurel J, Lefevre H, Bouin M, Arsene D, Launoy G. Changing practices for diagnosis and treatment of colorectal cancer in Calvados: 1990–1999. Gastroenterol Clin Biol. 2004;28(4):371–376
  35. Wright FC, Law CH, Last L, et al. Lymph node retrieval and assessment in stage II colorectal cancer: a population-based study. Ann Surg Oncol. 2003;10(8):903–909
  36. Bilimoria KY, Palis B, Stewart AK, et al. Impact of tumor location on nodal evaluation for colon cancer. Dis Colon Rectum. 2008;51(2):154–161
  37. Miller EA, Woosley J, Martin CF, Sandler RS. Hospital-to-hospital variation in lymph node detection after colorectal resection. Cancer. 2004;101(5):1065–1071
  38. Ayanian JZ, Zaslavsky AM, Fuchs CS, et al. Use of adjuvant chemotherapy and radiation therapy for colorectal cancer in a population-based cohort. J Clin Oncol. 2003;21(7):1293–1300
  39. Kohne CH, Grothey A, Bokemeyer C, Bontke N, Aapro M. Chemotherapy in elderly patients with colorectal cancer. Ann Oncol. 2001;12(4):435–442
  40. Lemmens VE, van Halteren AH, Janssen-Heijnen ML, Vreugdenhil G, Repelaer van Driel OJ, Coebergh JW. Adjuvant treatment for elderly patients with stage III colon cancer in the southern Netherlands is affected by socioeconomic status, gender, and comorbidity. Ann Oncol. 2005;16(5):767–772
  41. Luo R, Giordano SH, Zhang DD, Freeman J, Goodwin JS. The role of the surgeon in whether patients with lymph node-positive colon cancer see a medical oncologist. Cancer. 2007;109(5):975–982
  42. Surgery for colorectal cancer in elderly patients: a systematic review. Lancet. 2000;356(9234):968–974Colorectal Cancer Collaborative Group
  43. Koruda MJ, Sheldon GF. Surgery in the aged. Adv Surg. 1991;24:293–331
  44. Engel AF, Oomen JL, Knol DL, Cuesta MA. Operative mortality after colorectal resection in the Netherlands. Br J Surg. 2005;92(12):1526–1532
  45. Wouters MW, Wijnhoven BP, Karim-Kos HE, et al. High-volume versus low-volume for esophageal resections for cancer: the essential role of case-mix adjustments based on clinical data. Ann Surg Oncol. 2008;15(1):80–87
  46. Meyerhardt JA, Catalano PJ, Schrag D, et al. Association of hospital procedure volume and outcomes in patients with colon cancer at high risk for recurrence. Ann Intern Med. 2003;139(8):649–657
  47. Schrag D, Panageas KS, Riedel E, et al. Surgeon volume compared to hospital volume as a predictor of outcome following primary colon cancer resection. J Surg Oncol. 2003;83(2):68–78

 Study performed by the ‘Quality of cancer care’ taskforce of the Signalling Committee Cancer of the Dutch Cancer Society (the committees full report is available on www.kwfkankerbestrijding.nl).

PII: S0748-7983(10)00155-1

doi: 10.1016/j.ejso.2010.05.026

European Journal of Surgical Oncology
Volume 36 , Pages S64-S73 , September 2010