The authors assessed variations in the use of breast-conserving surgery from 1983 to 1986 among 18,399 non-Hispanic white, 324 Hispanic, and 1174 black women with breast cancer in nine areas in the United States. The source of data was the National Cancer Institute’s Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program.

“The frequency of the use of breast-conserving surgery in black and Hispanic women was comparable to that in white women….Older women in all areas and black women in Atlanta and Detroit were less likely than other women to receive radiotherapy after breast-conserving therapy.”

“We reported previously that Hispanic and American Indian patients with cancer in New Mexico were less likely to be treated than white patients; in that study, however, the differences among the American Indian, Hispanic, and white patients regarding treatment of breast cancer were small. It has been found that medical care is less common among black patients with ischemic heart disease than white patients. Our findings on radiation after breast-conserving surgery suggest that race may have different effects on treatment patterns in various regions of the United States.”