Adherence to Multidisciplinary Tumor Board (MTB) Recommendations in Patients With Breast Cancer: The Results From Two Cancer Centers in Germany.

[BACKGROUND] Multidisciplinary care is essential for the management of breast cancer. Multidisciplinary tumor boards (MTBs) can improve the health outcomes in breast cancer; however, the association of adherence to MTB recommendations with survival time has not been studied.

[METHODS] This is a retrospective observational study of patients with breast cancer diagnosed between 2014 and 2018 and discussed in the MTB meetings at 2 breast cancer centers certified by the German Cancer Society. Primary endpoints were adherence rate to MTB recommendations and disease-free survival (DFS). The secondary endpoint was overall survival (OS). Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and Cox proportional hazard modelling were used. Ethics approval was obtained from the Ethical Commission of Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg (2018-100).

[RESULTS] In total, 1563 patients with breast cancer were included in the study. The adherence rate to MTB recommendations was 89.6%. The most common reason for nonadherence was patient preference (122 out of 162 nonadherent patients, 75.3%). There was a statistically significant difference in DFS and OS between adherent and nonadherent patients (log-rank test, P < .05). In the multivariate analysis, adherence was a significant predictor of DFS but not OS.

[CONCLUSION] Adherence to MTB recommendations demonstrated an improved DFS and OS in patients with breast cancer in the univariate analysis. In the multivariate analysis, adherence was a significant predictor of DFS but not OS. This suggests further research is needed to determine the factors underlying behind the survival time of patients with breast cancer.