Abstract
Multidisciplinary cancer care and the role of the multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) in clinical decision making is widely recognized. The rationale for this is evident by the fact that treatments are becoming more complex, new forms of treatment in different professional areas are becoming available at a more rapid pace, and there is a trend towards personalized medicine. Although it seems self-evident that the variety of specialist team members with their combined knowledge and expertise will improve decision-making and therefore ultimately patient management and outcome, the beneficial impact of MDTs is not easily demonstrated. However, indeed some studies suggested that MDT meetings can change the original planned management in almost one third of cases. In the decision-making process, factors that are taken into account are: (1) disease factors, (2) patients factors, (3) treatment factors, and (4) the decision of the patient himself/herself. The attitude of the patient in this decision making, being negative or positive, is in that respect extremely important. It has become increasingly apparent that patients need emotional support, not only to navigate through their cancer journey, but also to successfully integrate back into society and daily life. Important moments in decision making are at diagnosis, during (acute toxicity assessment) and at the end of specific parts of the treatment to decide whether any further treatment is necessary, and in the posttreatment phase during follow-up (who is doing what, when, how, and for how long). Late toxicity assessment is becoming more and more of an issue, as well as quality of life of the survivors.
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Vermorken, J.B. (2017). Multidisciplinary Decision Making and Head and Neck Tumor Boards. In: Vermorken, J., Budach, V., Leemans, C., Machiels, JP., Nicolai, P., O'Sullivan, B. (eds) Critical Issues in Head and Neck Oncology. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-42909-0_6
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