Multidisciplinary tumor boards (MTBs) and survival Outcomes: Adherence to MTB recommendations in patients with lung cancer treated at two European cancer centers (AdThera-2)

INTRODUCTION: Multidisciplinary tumor board (MTB) decisions are essential in the treatment of lung cancer. The association of adherence to MTB recommendations with survival time is limitedly reported in the literature. This study aimed to determine the adherence to MTB recommendations and its association with survival in patients with lung cancer treated at two European cancer centers. METHODS: This is a retrospective observational study including lung cancer patients from Pius hospital in Germany (diagnosed between 2014-2018) and the University Medical Center (UMCG) in the Netherlands (diagnosed between 2015-2019). Kaplan-Meier analysis was used for survival analysis. Cox proportional hazards model was used to adjust for confounders. R and RStudio was used for statistical analysis. This study is approved by the Ethical Commission of Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (2018-100). RESULTS: Adherence rate was 89.8% and the most common reason for non-adherence was patient preference (42.9%, 76 out of 177 patients in the non-adherent group). There was a statistically significant difference in survival between adherent and non-adherent groups. Adherence was an independent predictor of survival in the multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Adherence to MTB recommendations is associated with improved survival in patients with lung cancer. Further research should focus on the evaluation of MDT organization and its association with patient outcomes.