Table 1.
Physician Characteristics, Practices and Preferences by Specialty
| Survey Responses | All Surgeons (N=163) |
Physician Specialty |
p-value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| General Surgeon (N=115) |
Colorectal Surgeon (N=30) |
Surgical Oncologist (N=18) |
|||
| Years in Practice | p=0.46 | ||||
| 0–2 years | 12 (7%) | 8 (7%) | 2 (7%) | 2 (11%) | |
| 3–10 years | 42 (26%) | 25 (22%) | 9 (30%) | 8 (44%) | |
| 11–15 years | 21 (13%) | 15 (13%) | 4 (13%) | 2 (11%) | |
| 16+ years | 88 (54%) | 67 (58%) | 15 (50%) | 6 (33%) | |
| Refer patients for pre-op CRT | p=0.43 | ||||
| Yes | 159 (98%) | 111 (97%) | 30 (100%) | 18 (100%) | |
| No | 3 (2%) | 3 (3%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Missing response | 1 (1%) | 1 (1%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Routinely request/perform pre-op staging of patients using TRUS, MRI, CT or PET |
p=0.07 | ||||
| Yes | 151 (93%) | 103 (90%) | 30 (100%) | 18 (100%) | |
| No | 7 (4%) | 7 (6%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Missing response | 5 (3%) | 5 (4%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Preferred method of pre-op locoregional staging |
p=0.02 | ||||
| TRUS | 80 (49%) | 46 (40%) | 19 (63%) | 15 (83%) | |
| MRI | 12 (7%) | 9 (8%) | 3 (10%) | 0 (0%) | |
| CT | 55 (34%) | 46 (40%) | 6 (20%) | 3 (17%) | |
| PET | 7 (4%) | 7 (6%) | 0 (0%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Other | 2 (1%) | 1 (1%) | 1 (3%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Missing Response | 7 (4%) | 6 (5%) | 1 (3%) | 0 (0%) | |
| Recommend pre-op CRT for the following stages |
|||||
| T3N0 | 126 (77%) | 83 (72%) | 26 (87%) | 17 (94%) | p=0.04 |
| T4N0 | 128 (79%) | 83 (72%) | 28 (93%) | 17 (94%) | p<0.009 |
| T1N1 | 102 (63%) | 65 (57%) | 24 (80%) | 13 (72%) | p=0.04 |
| T2N1 | 109 (67%) | 71 (44%) | 25 (83%) | 13 (72%) | p=0.07 |
| T3N1 | 127 (78%) | 82 (71%) | 27 (90%) | 18 (100%) | p=0.005 |
| T4N1 | 118 (72%) | 74 (64%) | 27 (90%) | 17 (94%) | p=0.002 |