The study comprised of a surgey among surgeons to investigate wether variation in the use of Sentinel Lymph Node Biopsy (SLNB) in patients with a biopsy-proven diagnosis of Ductal Carcinoma in Situ might be explained by preferences of surgeons, organisational factors or the influence of patients preferences.The study was conducted as a cross-sectional web survey among Dutch oncological/breast surgeons. Preferences of surgeons and the influence of the patients’ preferences were determined two ways: by means of best-worst scaling (BWS) of profile case scenarios and by ranking risk factors. The survey also explored the influence on the decionsion to use SLNB of background characteristics and organisational factors.This study did not find background or organisational factors that could explain the inter-hospital variation in the use of SLNB. Patients could have some influence on the decision. The risk factors that most surgeons reported as reasons for performing SLNB at biopsy-proven DCIS are: having a suspicion of invasive breast cancer based on biopsy, DCIS grade and size of the DCIS.

Date Submitted: 2022-03-31