Effects of Multidisciplinary Team Care on the Survival of Patients with Different Stages of Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer: A National Cohort Study

Abstract

In Taiwan, cancer is the top cause of death, and the mortality rate of lung cancer is the highest of all cancers. Some studies have demonstrated that multidisciplinary team (MDT) care can improve survival rates of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients. However, no study has discussed the effect of MDT care on different stages of NSCLC. The target population for this study consisted of patients with NSCLC newly diagnosed in the 2005–2010 Cancer Registry. The data was linked with the 2002–2011 National Health Insurance Research Database and the 2005–2011 Cause of Death Statistics Database. The multivariate Cox proportional hazards model was used to explore whether the involvement of MDT care had an effect on survival. This study applied the propensity score as a control variable to reduce selection bias between patients with and without involvement of MDT care. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of death of MDT participants with stage III & IV NSCLC was significantly lower than that of MDT non-participants (adjusted HR = 0.87, 95% confidence interval = 0.84-0.90). This study revealed that MDT care are significantly associated with higher survival rate of patients with stage III and IV NSCLC, and thus MDT care should be used in the treatment of these patients.

Consensus minimum data set for lung cancer multidisciplinary teams: Results of a Delphi process

“…Multidisciplinary care for lung cancer is accepted in many countries around the world but collection of data by multidisciplinary team (MDT) is not yet routine or standardized. Data sources that provide information on the impact of MDT care include state cancer registries, local cancer registries, hospital‐based registries and (via linkage) national administrative data sets .…”

“…Multidisciplinary care for lung cancer is accepted in many countries around the world but collection of data by multidisciplinary team (MDT) is not yet routine or standardized. Data sources that provide information on the impact of MDT care include state cancer registries, local cancer registries, hospital‐based registries and (via linkage) national administrative data sets . There are many different data sources and collection strategies for lung cancer, including the International Consortium for Health Outcomes (ICHOM) database, the National Lung Cancer Audit (NLCA) key data items, the Dutch lung surgery audit and CancerLinQ as well as registry data sets including the Victorian Lung Cancer Registry (VLCR) and the Danish Lung Cancer Registry (DLCR) .…”

“…Data sources that provide information on the impact of MDT care include state cancer registries, 10 local cancer registries, 8 hospital-based registries 11 and (via linkage) national administrative data sets. 7 There are many different data sources and collection strategies for lung cancer, including the International Consortium for Health Outcomes (ICHOM)…”

Cancer multidisciplinary team meetings in practice: Results from a multi‐institutional quantitative survey and implications for policy change

“…[8][9][10] It has been noted that MDT meetings were initially established without a strong evidence base. 11 However, with over 200 studies now published, there is evidence to demonstrate that a team approach provides benefits to patients, improved clinical and process outcomes, 12 greater cooperation and communication across medical professionals and opportunities for professional development.…”

Effects of multidisciplinary team on emergency care for colorectal cancer patients

“…[10,11] Moreover, several studies stated that it had better clinical outcomes in use of MDT in the treatment of other cancer areas such as lung cancer, [12,13] oral cavity cancer, [14,15] hepatocellular carcinoma, [16] and esophageal cancer. [17] However, 1 systematic review study included 27 articles with a comparison group of MDT and pointed out that MDT improvement in the effectiveness of treatment including colorectal cancer treatments was limited.…”