This study analyzes the flow of patients with breast cancer treated in Brazil's Unified National Health System (SUS) by type of treatment (surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy). Hospital and outpatient services networks were identified based on data from the National Information System for Inpatient Care (SIH), and the National Information System for Outpatient Cancer Care, for 2005-2006, using TabWin and TerraView. Health services networks reach most of the country, and few municipalities are not connected to a network. However, treatment is highly concentrated in the largest cities, and even the latter show evidence of service shortages. Furthermore, a large proportion of patients live more than 150 km from the respective service. Network identification is important for planning and improving services distribution, since geographic access is a relevant issue for treatment outcome. Reduction of morbidity and mortality requires early identification, and appropriate and prompt treatment can reduce the impacts of the disease.
See how this article has been cited at scite.ai
scite shows how a scientific paper has been cited by providing the context of the citation, a classification describing whether it supports, mentions, or contrasts the cited claim, and a label indicating in which section the citation was made.