Colorectal multidisciplinary meetings: how do they affect the timeliness of treatment?

The aim of this study is to determine whether multidisciplinary team (MDT) meetings alter the length of time to treatment (LOTT) for patients with colorectal cancer.

We conducted a retrospective audit of all patients with colorectal cancer from the Geelong Hospital (TGH) mandatory colorectal database from 1 January 2006 to 3 February 2011. To be included, patients had to have had elective surgical intervention for primary colorectal adenocarcinoma. A comparison of historical controls was conducted between patients discussed in MDT meetings and those managed prior to the introduction of MDT meetings (3 October 2006) to determine the LOTT in days from definitive diagnosis (colonoscopy) to definitive management (surgery, radiotherapy or chemotherapy).

In total, the median LOTT for the historical control and MDT era patient populations were 19.5 and 20 days, respectively. Within the MDT era, we noticed significantly longer times to treatment for patients with rectal cancer who were seen in an MDT meeting prior to definitive management than patients who did not have an intervening MDT meeting (P < 0.001). With a difference of 7.5 days, the clinical significance of these findings remains contentious. However, it is worthwhile recognizing this trend in patients who are exhibiting symptoms due to near obstruction or significant bleeding. The LOTT for colon cancer patients remained unchanged.

The introduction of MDT meetings to TGH has prolonged the LOTT for patients with rectal cancer. These findings pave the way for further revision of the efficiency of MDT meeting at TGH.