Cochrane breast cancer group presentations

2005

Decision making in breast cancer: Making the best of the evidence

On the 25 th October 2005 , The Cochrane Breast Cancer Group in conjunction with the Breast Cancer Action Group presented a very successful breast cancer forum. The event was held at the Melbourne Convention Centre and was conducted in association with the annual Cochrane Colloquium. Approximately ninety people comprising consumers, nurses, GPs and affiliates of The Cochrane Collaboration attended the forum.

The aim of the forum was to present a scientific style update surrounding issues of treatment and management of breast cancer, and to encourage some discussion as to the way in which current evidence can be interpreted.

It is with great pleasure that we are able, with the permission of the speakers, to provide the slides from the seven presentations and some introductory information about the speakers themselves.

1. Professor Mike Clarke is Director of the UK Cochrane Centre in Oxford and scientific coordinator of the Early Breast Cancer Trialists' Collaborative Group overview at the Clinical Trial Service Unit, University of Oxford . This overview brings together evidence from randomized trials of treatments for women with breast cancer and has produced findings that have greatly influenced health care in the last two decades. He became Professor of Clinical Epidemiology at the University of Oxford in October 2004.
Evidence based health care: Systematic reviews in breast cancer

2. Dr Richard de Boer is Consultant Medical Oncologist at the Royal Melbourne and the Western Hospitals . He trained in Medical Oncology in Melbourne from 1994-1996 and then spent 3 years in London working under Ian Smith in the Breast and Lung Cancer Unit at the Royal Marsden Hospital. His major interests are in the management of patients with breast and lung cancer and also in clinical trials.
Aromatase inhibitors: Results of the latest adjuvant trials and review of toxicity, focusing on treatment-induced bone loss

3. Associate Professor John Collins is a dedicated breast surgeon, Head of the Breast units at the Royal Melbourne, Royal Women's and Freemason's Hospitals. He is immediate past Chairman of the Breast Section of the College of Surgeons and past President of the Foundation Council of the International Breast Cancer Study Group (IBCSG). He is a representative of the Royal Australian College of Surgeons, SNAC Trial Management Committee.
The introduction of sentinel lymph node surgery into Australia: The SNAC study design and early results

4. Professor Cindy Farquhar is the Postgraduate Professor of Obstetrics and Gynecology in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University of Auckland and the coordinating editor of the Cochrane Menstrual Disorders and Subfertility Group which was established in 1996. Her research interests include clinical trials within subfertility and menstrual disorders, systematic reviews and clinical practice guidelines. She is also the deputy chair of the board of the NZ Guidelines Group.
Hormone therapy and breast cancer: conflicting evidence?

5. Dr Sally Lord is a clinical epidemiologist for the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre's Health Care Assessment and Systematic Review team . She is involved in conducting systematic reviews to inform the Medical Services Advisory Committee's recommendations about the funding of new medical technologies under the Medicare Benefits Schedule. Her session outlines the events leading to the review of lymphoedema recently undertaken by the Australian Health Ministers' Advisory Council and the methods undertaken by the NHMRC Clinical Trials Centre contracted to produce the scoping document on which this review was based and the main recommendations of the final report.
Review of current practices and future directions in the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of lymphoedema in Australia

6 . Maryann Napoli is a co-founder and Associate Director of the Centre for Medical Consumers in New York City . Founded in 1976 the centre is a non-profit advocacy organization active in both statewide and national efforts to improve the quality of health care and to broaden public awareness about the safety and quality problems within the American health care system. Maryann has a longstanding association with The Cochrane Collaboration and also serves as a consumer referee for Cochrane reviews in breast cancer.
Mammographic screening 30 years later: Are women making informed decisions?

7. Dr Jenny Doust is a general practitioner and a researcher.  Her main research interests have been in the area of diagnosis and management of heart disease in general practice, but she is also interested in the topic of how decisions are made jointly between clinicians and patients, and how this process may be improved. This has led to involvement with the Screening and Test Evaluation Program (STEP) at the University of Sydney . Jenny presented some results of Dr Alex Barratt's research looking at decision aids for women making decisions about breast cancer screening.
Decision aids for women making decisions about breast cancer screening



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How to read and do a Cochrane systematic review

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Cochrane breast cancer group posters

2005
Is timing important in systematic reviews of interventions in breast cancer?

2004
Addressing the information needs of the lay reader: how much is enough?

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