Ruhee Chaudhry and colleagues suggest that treatment at teaching hospitals rather than community hospitals may be advantageous for women with small breast tumours.1 I suggest that the reason women treated at teaching centres live longer than those treated at community hospitals has more to do with differences in the patient populations than with differences in the quality of treatment at the 2 types of hospitals.
Signature
T.J. Muckle
General pathologist Vineland, Ont.
Reference
- 1.Chaudhry R, Goel V, Sawka C. Breast cancer survival by teaching status of the initial treating hospital. CMAJ 2001;164(2):183-8. [PMC free article] [PubMed]