Compliance with multidisciplinary team meeting management recommendations

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Clinical Medicine
• Patient Care

Background:

• Multidisciplinary team (MDT) approach is standard for breast cancer management.
• Patient compliance with MDT recommendations is crucial for optimal outcomes.
• Understanding reasons for noncompliance and its impact is essential.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate patient compliance with breast cancer multidisciplinary team (MDT) recommendations.
• To identify factors contributing to treatment noncompliance.
• To assess the impact of noncompliance on breast cancer outcomes.

Main Methods:

• Retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data from 2011-2016.
• Inclusion of patients discussed at a breast cancer MDT.
• Assessment of compliance rates, reasons for noncompliance, clinical trial uptake, and breast cancer events in early breast cancer (EBC) patients.

Main Results:

• 92% of patients complied with all MDT management recommendations.
• Clinical trial recruitment rate was 84.1%.
• Reasons for noncompliance included fear of toxicity, alternative treatment choices, and inconvenience.
• Noncompliant EBC patients had significantly higher rates of contralateral breast cancer, distant recurrence, and breast cancer-specific death (P=.0016).

Conclusions:

• High compliance rates with MDT recommendations and clinical trial recruitment were observed.
• Treatment noncompliance in early breast cancer patients is associated with poorer oncological outcomes.
• Enhanced patient education regarding treatment toxicity and evidence-based care is recommended to improve compliance.