Will the presence of the patient at multidisciplinary meetings influence the decision in head and neck oncology management?

Abstract

Objectives: Multidisciplinary team meetings (MTM) are essential in the choice of a therapeutic strategy in head and neck cancer. In many centres patients attend MTMs and are examined by the team. The aim of this study was to assess the influence of the patient’s presence on therapeutic decisions.

Study design: Prospective study of 119 consecutive patients.

Methods: Two therapeutic situations were compared: the therapeutic decision taken following discussion of the patient’s file in the MTM (D1) and the therapeutic decision taken after examination of the patient during MTMs (D2). Concordance between the two situations was measured.

Results: Concordance between D1 and D2 was 97%. No factors likely to decrease concordance were identified. Decisions taken during MTMs were acted upon for 97% of the patients.

Conclusion: The presence of the patient during MTMs is not essential if the files are thoroughly presented and discussed.

Chinese abstract

目的：多学科小组会（MTM）对于选择头颈癌的治疗方案至关重要。 在许多中心, 患者参加MTM并由小组对其进行会诊。 本研究的目的是评估患者的参与对决定治疗方案的影响。

研究设计：对119例连续患者的前瞻性研究。

方法：比较两种治疗情况：在MTM（D1）会上讨论了患者档案后决定治疗方案：在MTM（D2）会上对患者进行检查后决定治疗方案。 衡量两种情况之间的一致性。

结果：D1和D2之间的一致性为97％。 没有发现可能降低一致性的因素。 在MTM会上的决定实施于97％的患者。

结论：如果对患者档案进行透彻介绍和讨论, 患者就没有必要出现在MTM会上。

Keywords:

• Head and neck cancer
• multidisciplinary team meetings
• presence of the patient
• therapeutic decision

Disclosure statement

The authors have no source of funding, financials relationship or conflicts of interest to disclose.