Accuracy of Time to Treatment Initiation Data in Musculoskeletal Soft Tissue Sarcoma

Table 2

Treatment characteristics of patients with a registry-reported TTI >0 days.

	N (%)	Reported mean TTI	Effective mean TTI	TTI difference^#	value
Total TTI >0 cohort	284 (100)	31.3 (26.0) [2–188]	31.0 (23.9) [2–141]	−0.3	0.77
Correctly reported TTI >0 cohort	272 (96)	30.9 (24.2) [2–141]	—	—	—
First treatment performed by
Sarcoma physician ϕ	165 (58)	28.6 (22.6) [3–141]	—	—	—
Nonsarcoma physician	84 (30)	35.5 (27.4) [2–140]	—	—	—
Outside health system	23 (8)	30.2 (21.5) [2–108]	—	—	—
First effective treatment
Excision	150 (53)	30.8 (25.5) [2–141]	—	—	—
Radiation	86 (30)	32.5 (21.6) [3–140]	—	—	—
Chemotherapy	36 (13)	26.9 (24.7) [2–108]	—	—	—
Incorrectly reported TTI >0 cohort	12 (4)	40.3 (53.7) [3–188]	33.4 (17.4) [8–76]	−6.9	0.27
Biopsy procedure reported as first treatment^^	8 (3)	27.8 (31.6) [3–85]	29.0 (9.9) [8–41]	1.2	0.20
Date of first treatment misreported	4 (1)	65.5 (83.5) [12–188]	42.3 (26.9) [20–76]	−23.2	0.69

Data reported in days as mean (SD) [range]. values represent a comparison between effective TTI and reported TTI. ϕ = sarcoma physician and nonsarcoma physician providers were within our health system. # = TTI difference in days between reported TTI and effective TTI. ^ = index biopsy of the primary tumor site reported as first treatment (2 patients); repeat biopsy of the primary tumor site after nondiagnostic index biopsy reported as first treatment (5 patients); biopsy of a different site reported as first treatment (1 patient). In 7 patients with an index or repeat biopsy reported as first treatment, a new diagnosis date was calculated to determine effective TTI.