BENEFITS OF A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO BREAST CARE

The University of Michigan Breast Care Center (BCC) was established in 1985 to provide comprehensive, multidisciplinary diagnosis and treatm ent of benign and malignant breast disease. This work presents an over view of our experience in the BCC and assesses the clinical, academic, financial, and educational effectiveness of the program. A database w as used to generate a list of all patients seen in the BCC between Feb ruary 1, 1985 and December 31, 1991. Participating departments provide d information regarding outpatient, inpatient, clinical and consultati ve activities, and referral patterns attributable to BCC endeavors. BC C educational and academic activities were reviewed and profiled. Clin ical information was culled from the BCC database, hospital records, a nd the hospital tumor registry. The BCC has resulted in a fivefold inc rease in breast care related activity at the University of Michigan Me dical Center. Over half of the patients treated in the BCC with primar y operable breast cancer receive breast-conserving therapy. The BCC pe rforms a unique educational function, providing the primary breast car e experience for house staff as well as one third of the third year me dical school class. The BCC supports over 20 clinical research protoco ls, and patient enrollment in clinical trials has increased dramatical ly since 1985. The BCC also provides support to basic science research ers receiving over 2.5 million dollars in peer reviewed direct cost su pport. These data suggest that a multidisciplinary approach to patient care as embodied by the BCC can be clinically, financially, and acade mically superior and productive. This model warrants further investiga tion not only in the field of breast care, but also in other clinical situations that require multidisciplinary input and therapy. (C) 1993 Wiley-Liss, Inc.