Mini-reviewEffects of a multidisciplinary team on colorectal cancer treatment

Multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) are now widely accepted as a standard of quality control and a model for various approaches to cancer care in many countries. Evidence has shown that MDTs can improve clinical decision-making as well as the outcomes and experiences of patients with various cancers. Adopting MDTs for treating patients with colorectal cancer has considerably influenced current medical practice. Most of the decisions made by MDTs are implemented, and preoperative evaluation can be achieved more completely with more accurate preoperative staging. Patients who receive care under the guidance of MDTs have higher rates of access to multimodal therapies than do patients who do not. In addition, pathology reports are more likely to be of higher quality. In an MDT setting, adjuvant chemotherapies are prescribed in a more suitable manner and overall survival is improved. An MDT can determine whether patients with rectal cancer should first be treated surgically or receive neoadjuvant therapy. MDTs considerably influence decisions regarding the choice of staging modality and neoadjuvant treatment. However, results regarding the reduced rate of positive circumferential resection margins and more favorable overall survival are controversial. In conclusion, most of the influence of MDTs on current treatment for colorectal cancer is positive; therefore, establishing MDTs should be encouraged to enhance the quality of colorectal cancer care.