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S McEvoy

Publications and source records attributed to S McEvoy.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Pathology reporting of breast cancer: trends in 1989-1999, following the introduction of mammographic screening in Western Australia.

BACKGROUND: A survey of pathology reporting of breast cancer in Western Australia in 1989 highlighted the need for improvement. The current study documents (1) changes in pathology reporting from 1989 to 1999 and (2) changes in patterns of histopathological prognostic indicators for breast cancer following introduction of mammographic screening in 1989. METHODS: Data concerning all breast cancer cases reported in Western Australia in 1989, 1994 and 1999 were retrieved using the State Cancer Registry, Hospital Morbidity data system, and pathology laboratory records. RESULTS: Pathology reports improved in quality during the decade surveyed. For invasive carcinoma, tumour size was not recorded in 1.2% of pathology reports in 1999 compared with 16.1% in 1989 (p<0.001). Corresponding figures for other prognostic factors were: tumour grade 3.3% and 51.6% (p<0.001), tumour type 0.2% and 4.1% (p<0.001), vascular invasion 3.7% and 70.9% (p<0.001), and lymph node status 1.9% and 4.5% (p = 0.023). In 1999, 5.9% of reports were not in a synoptic/checklist format, whereas all reports were descriptive in 1989 (p<0.001). For the population as a whole, the proportion of invasive carcinomas <1 cm was 20.9% in 1999 compared with 14.5% in 1989 (p<0.001); for tumours <2 cm the corresponding figures were 65.4% and 59.7% (p = 0.013). In 1999, 30.5% of tumours were histologically well-differentiated compared with 10.6% in 1989 (p<0.001), and 61.7% were lymph node negative in 1999 compared with 57.1% in 1989 (p = 0.006). Pure ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) constituted 10.9% and 7.9% of total cases of breast carcinoma in 1999 and 1989, respectively (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Quality of pathology reporting improved markedly over the period, in parallel with adoption of standardised synoptic pathology reports. By 1999, recording of important prognostic information was almost complete. Frequency of favourable prognostic factors generally increased over time, reflecting expected effects of mammographic screening.

Adenocarcinoma↗
PubMed1994

Twin language or phonological disorder?

The acquisition of language in the preschool years by multiple-birth children is often reported to be atypical. Some researchers have claimed that they use 'twin language', i.e. an autonomous language specific to a multiple-birth set. This claim was investigated by describing and comparing the phonological characteristics of the speech of 19 sets of two- to four-year-old multiple-birth children, and by measuring multiple-birth children's understanding of their twins' or triplets' context-free speech. The results indicated that multiple-birth children are prone to phonological disorder and consequently their speech is often unintelligible. Siblings' phonologies evidenced some similarities, although they were not identical. Multiple-birth children were better able to understand their siblings' mispronunciations than were other children of the same age, although that understanding was dependent on how closely the error form resembled the adult form. While these three factors conspire to give the impression that 'twin language' is common, none of these findings provided support for the claim that multiple-birth children use an autonomous language.

Articulation Disorders↗
PubMed1992

The communication abilities of 2- to 4-year-old twins.

The speech and language abilities of pre-school multiple-birth children (MBC) are often reported to be impaired. In this study, teh syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, articulation and phonological skills of 19 sets of MBC were assessed. The comparisons made were between MBC and matched singleton controls, between siblings within multiple-birth sets, and for each multiple-birth child with different conversational partners (sibling versus speech and language therapist). The results indicated that the MBC performed more poorly than the singleton controls on measures of syntax and phonology. Whilst there were quantitative and qualitative similarities between siblings' linguistic abilities, their phonologies were not identical, and the MBC's speech and language changed with different conversational partners. The implications of the results for the existence of 'twin language', choice of language sample for assessment of functional communication and the need for preventive intervention programmes are discussed.

Child Language↗