March 2014, Vol 5, No 2

San Diego, CA—The use of virtual patient vignettes to improve adherence to a breast cancer clinical pathway identified correctable variances from a breast cancer clinical pathway with the potential to reduce the cost of care by several million dollars, according to the results of a pilot study reported at the 2013 American Society of Clinical Oncology Quality Care Symposium.

Women who carry the BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation had an 80% reduction in risk for ovarian, fallopian tube, or breast cancer if they underwent preventive oophorectomy, according to a large prospective study, and a 77% reduction in all-cause mortality (Finch AP, et al. J Clin Oncol. 2014 February 24 [Epub ahead of print]).