Delay and completion of treatment in head and neck cancer patients employing a multidisciplinary team approach: A single institution experience

ABSTRACT

Objective@#To explore possible associations of a multidisciplinary team approach compared to a non-multidisciplinary team approach on delay and completion of treatment of head and neck cancer patients.@*Methods@#Design: Historical Cohort Study Setting: Tertiary Private Training Hospital Participants: A total of 240 records of head and neck cancer patients from January 2016 and December 2018 were included in the study; 117 underwent a multidisciplinary team approach and 123 underwent a non- multidisciplinary team approach.@*Results@#Only 24.79% of head and neck cancer patients under the multidisciplinary team approach had treatment delays compared to 37.40% under the non-multidisciplinary team approach. The proportion of treatment delays was significantly higher (χ2 = 4.44, p = .035) with the non-multidisciplinary team approach. Comparative treatment completion of 77.78% and 69.11% under the multidisciplinary and non-multidisciplinary team approaches, respectively, were not significantly different (χ2 = 2.31, p = .129). @*Conclusion@#The multidisciplinary approach might be associated with decreased delay in treatment among patients with head and neck cancer compared to the non-multidisciplinary team approach. A possible trend toward better treatment completion rate was also observed, but it did not reach statistical significance.