Results of a nationwide survey on multidisciplinary teams on thyroid cancer in Spain

There is an important lack of knowledge as to the functioning of multidisciplinary teams on thyroid cancer in current clinical practice. We aimed to retrieve data on the composition, structure, and procedures developed by the multidisciplinary units of thyroid cancer in Spain.

A nationwide survey consisting of questions about composition, structure, and functioning of multidisciplinary teams was designed. It was available online from November 15, 2017 to February 15, 2018.

Seventy-two multidisciplinary units responded to our survey. Of these, 15 (20.8%) focused only in thyroid cancer, while 57 (79.2%) included other endocrine disorders or non-endocrine tumors. The median (interquartile range) of members of the teams was 11 (9-14). The most frequent medical specialties in the units were endocrinology (100%), surgery (94.4%), pathology (80.6%), radiology (75.0%), nuclear medicine (73.6%), and medical oncology (55.6%). The annual number of patients reviewed by the teams was 40 (20-74). 56.9% of the multidisciplinary teams have elaborated clinical protocols for local use. Apart from clinical case discussions in the meetings, 45.8% of the units included educational activities and 36.1% research subjects. Quality indicators were developed by 22% of the teams.

These results suggest that there are some hopeful signs that international recommendations of having multidisciplinary approach to patients with thyroid cancer are being followed in Spain. This gives us the opportunity to proceed with further studies to analyze the real impact of this high standard of care on patient outcomes.