Authors: Michael T Law James Kollias Ian Bennett
Publish Date: 2013/05/07
Volume: 37, Issue: 9, Pages: 2148-2154
Abstract
Surgeon performed ultrasound US is being increasingly embraced by breast surgeons worldwide as an integral part of patient assessment The extent of its application within Australia and New Zealand is not well documented The present study aimed to evaluate its current usage patterns and to determine suitable future training modelsOf the 126 surveys sent 59 were returned The majority of respondents were metropolitan based 64 worked in both public and private sectors 71 and practiced endocrine or general surgery 85 as well as breast surgery A preponderance of surgeons had access to equipment 63 performed at least 1 US monthly 63 but did not perform regular guided biopsies Rural practice did not affect access or usage patterns Most respondents underwent structured US training 73 which was associated with greater US and biopsy usage biopsy complexity intraoperative applications and cross discipline applications p 003 Most surgeons favored a structured training program for future trainees 83 The majority of breast surgeons from Australia and New Zealand have adopted office US to varying degrees Geographic variation did not lead to access inequity and variation in scanning patterns Formal US training may result in a wider scope of clinical applications by increasing operator confidence and is the preferred model within a specialist breast surgical curriculum
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