Analysis of multidisciplinary lung cancer practice

Abstract

Within a MDC, patients receive timely diagnosis, staging and treatment according to evidence-based guideline recommendations. The high proportion of patients receiving active treatment has implications for resource allocation. There is a referral bias towards patients with early non-small-cell lung cancer, particularly in rural patients, suggesting that further education about advances in metastatic lung cancer management is required. This study would support the establishment of regional lung cancer services with links to fully resourced MDC.

Team Dynamics, Decision Making, and Attitudes Toward Multidisciplinary Cancer Meetings: Health Professionals' Perspectives

“…Multidisciplinary cancer care has been shown to improve survival 1,2 and adherence to evidence based-guidelines. 3 It is now a standard feature of high-quality cancer care. 4 In Australia, as in many other parts of the world, a central focus of multidisciplinary care is the multidisciplinary meeting (MDM), in which health professionals from medical and allied health disciplines review diagnostic imaging and pathology, jointly discuss a patient's case, and recommend a treatment plan.…”

Differences in Practice Patterns and Costs between Small Cell and Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer Patients in Japan

“…This type of research in LC, however, has largely been based on studies limited either to SCLC or NSCLC cases, and not on overall primary LC studies (Oliver et al 2001;Conron et al 2007;Ostgathe et al 2008). In cases where health services research for LC has been based on the entire LC population, it has often included either outpatient care or palliative medicine for LC (Conron et al 2007;Podnos et al 2007). We expect that some medical care might be common to all LC patients, whereas other types of medical care, such as chemotherapy, might be more specific to certain LC patients for whom the clinical severity of disease is higher.…”

“…LC has been attracting attention both clinically and economically, as new chemotherapeutic agents and diagnostic imaging techniques continue to be developed (Dooms et al 2006;Pimentel et al 2006;Maniadakis et al 2007;Ng et al 2007;Spiro et al 2008). These advances in medical care have benefited LC patients (Oliver et al 2001;Conron et al 2007;Ostgathe et al 2008).…”

Improving Molecular Testing and Personalized Medicine in Non-Small-Cell Lung Cancer in Ontario

“…Multidisciplinary diagnostic clinics or tumour-site conferences could potentially facilitate improved communication between clinicians across multiple disciplines who are involved in the diagnosis and treatment of lung cancer patients 58 . At a provincial level, establishing a centralized molecular testing registry accessible to all clinicians could facilitate treatment planning, expedite starting treatment, and reduce requests for repeat testing from different institutions.…”