The American Journal of Public Health published a study that states women with early-stage breast cancer have a better survival if they undergo surgery at a hospital that performs large numbers of breast cancer surgeries.
To explore the link between hospital volume and breast cancer survival, researchers conducted a study among more than 11,000 Medicare beneficiaries who underwent surgery for Stage I or Stage II breast cancer. These surgeries were performed at 457 different hospitals in the United States.
Hospital volume of the number of breast cancer surgeries was defined as:
- low volume -- zero to nineteen cases per year
- medium volume -- twenty to thirty nine cases per year
- high volume -- forty or more cases per year
Study participants were followed for roughly five years after surgery:
- Compared to women treated at a low-volume hospital, women treated at a high-volume hospital were 17 percent less likely to die of any cause and 20 percent less likely to die of breast cancer.
- Surgery at the high-volume hospital was linked with better survival among women with lymph-node negative cancer as well as among women with lymph node positive disease.
It appears that the treatment at a hospital that performs a greater number of breast cancer surgeries appears to result in better survival among women undergoing surgery for breast cancer.
The term vitamin E refers to a family of eight related, antioxidant compounds widely distributed in plants. Pro-vitamin E or alpha-tocopheryl succinate (Alpha-TOS) is found in the green parts of a plant. The best sources of vitamin E are the vegetable and seed or nut oils. It was first isolated from wheat germ oil, which is still a commonly used, rich source of vitamin E. 
