A Scoping Review on the Data Utility, Clinical Impact, and Cost of Multidisciplinary Team Meetings for Pancreatic...

Multidisciplinary Team Meetings (MDMs) are the accepted model for constructing treatment plans for pancreatic cancer (PC). With increasing PC diagnoses and budget constraints, MDMs must undertake cost-effective workflows. We aimed to summarize available evidence on the utility of information collected, their impact on care decisions, and cost burden.

A systematic scoping review was conducted, searching MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CINAHL databases until December 2023. Included studies related to adult PCMDMs, their impact on diagnosis, treatment plans, and costs. Data were deductively and inductively analyzed based on study aims.

Exactly 36 studies were included from 3728 identified studies. Information influencing MDM decisions were patient age, alcohol use, comorbidities, CEA/CA19-9, and CT imaging, with structured referral forms reported to improve data collection. PCMDMs changed initial diagnosis in 3.4%-21.7%, resectability assessment in 18.7%-29.7%, and treatment plan in 18.2%-72.2% of patients. PCMDMs increased participation in clinical trials/cancer registries. PCMDMs accrued substantial time (16.5 h weekly preparation per MDM) and financial cost ($240 USD/case).

PCMDM best practice should include standardization of collected data, identifying patients for clinical trials/registries, and knowledge of emerging technologies. Further research on PCMDM cost-burden is required to improve its cost-effectiveness.