Multidisciplinary Approach to Tumor Pathologies: State of the Art of a Single Center

Abstract

Aim: The figure of cancer patient has changed. Some reasons are the increase of the average population and higher incidence of diseases related to old age (cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, etc.), but also diseases such as obesity are increasing in industrialized countries. For these reasons is necessary to choose an adequate and personalized treatment, taking into consideration the different risk of mortality and morbidity in therapeutic choices through a greater interaction between medical specialists. Experiment: we conducted a retrospective study that took into consideration all the patients who underwent surgery of rectosigmoid junction and rectum in our hospital before and after the institution of a multidisciplinary tumour board (MTB) from January 2007 to April 2017. Furthermore, a recent retrospective single-centre analysis was performed in the same hospital by Tamburini et al. on consecutive patients who underwent surgery for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) between January 2008 and December 2015. Results: the advantage brought by the multidisciplinary evaluation teams are confirmed for the presence of benefits in terms of reduction of morbidity and improvement of the outcome of MTB patient group. Conclusions: we find that more study depth of neoplastic disease as well as of each individual patient leads to more accurate staging and to a weighted therapy based on the needs of the individual. According to our experience, multidisciplinary tumour board should be present in all hospitals where cancer diseases are treated.