Adherence to Multidisciplinary Tumor Board (MTB) Recommendations in Patients With Breast Cancer: The Results From Two...

Multidisciplinary care is essential for the management of breast cancer. Multidisciplinary tumor boards (MTBs) can improve the health outcomes in breast cancer; however, the association of adherence to MTB recommendations with survival time has not been studied.

This is a retrospective observational study of patients with breast cancer diagnosed between 2014 and 2018 and discussed in the MTB meetings at 2 breast cancer centers certified by the German Cancer Society. Primary endpoints were adherence rate to MTB recommendations and disease-free survival (DFS). The secondary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazard modelling were used. Ethics approval was obtained from the Ethical Commission of Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (2018-100).

In total, 1563 patients with breast cancer were included in the study. The adherence rate to MTB recommendations was 89.6%. The most common reason for nonadherence was patient preference (122 out of 162 nonadherent patients, 75.3%). There was a statistically significant difference in DFS and OS between adherent and nonadherent patients (log-rank test, P < .05). In the multivariate analysis, adherence was a significant predictor of DFS but not OS.

Adherence to MTB recommendations demonstrated an improved DFS and OS in patients with breast cancer in the univariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, adherence was a significant predictor of DFS but not OS. This suggests further research is needed to determine the factors underlying behind the survival time of patients with breast cancer.