Table 3. Specialist and nonspecialist treatment of the axilla and breast, adequacy of treatment and relative risk of recurrence.

	Specialists		Nonspecialists
	No.	%	No.	%	P-value
Treatment of the Breast
Conservation Surgery	462/906	51.0	572/1242	46.1	0.026
Inadequate conservation	104	22.5	285	49.8	<0.001
Local recurrence ratea	7%		14%		<0.001
RHR local recurrenceb	1.00		1.54		<0.001
			(1.10–2.20)
Staging of the axilla
Rate of axillary staging	843/906	93.0	984/1242	79.2	<0.001
Inadequate staging	69/906	7.6	503/1242	40.5	<0.001
Treatment of the axilla
Inadequate treatment	40/906	4.4	468/1242	37.7	<0.001
Axillary recurrence rateb	6%		11%		<0.001
RHR axillary recurrenceb	1.00		2.06		<0.001
			(1.48–2.88)
Systemic treatment
Premenopausal women
Chemotherapy (CT) rate	72/238	30.3	49/326	15.0	<0.001
Endocrine therapy (ET) rate	102/238	42.9	170/326	52.1	0.033
CT or ET in prognostically poorc	84/101	83.2	98/127	77.2	0.320
Postmenopausal women
Endocrine therapy rate	518/668	77.5	723/916	78.9	0.537
CT or ET in prognostically poorc	241/282	85.5	276/332	83.1	0.440

^aActuarial estimate at 8 years.

^bAfter adjustment for nodal status, tumour size and histological prognostic grade.

^cTumours greater than 40 mm, node positive or poor histological prognostic group.