Set up of multidisciplinary team discussions for patients with cholangiocarcinoma: current practice and recommendations from the European Network for the Study of Cholangiocarcinoma (ENS-CCA)

Cholangiocarcinomas (CCAs) are a rare group of malignancies characterized by dismal prognosis. There are currently no standardized guidelines for multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) in CCAs. An online survey was built with the aim of defining the current practice of MDTs in CCAs and identifying possible areas of improvement, providing minimum standards of practice for an ideal CCA-MDT. Analysis of the replies regarding current and ideal MDT practice was performed by calculating weighted average (WA) of likelihood of every item. The survey was shared with members of the European Network for the study of Cholangiocarcinoma (ENS-CCA) and other medical centers with expertise in biliary tract cancer (BTC) part of EURO-CHOLANGIO-NET (European Cholangiocarcinoma Network: https://eurocholangionet.eu/) COST Action CA18122 initiative. The role of the MDT coordinator was a recognized priority in an ideal well-functioning MDT (WA 3.31/4), together with providing minimum clinical information prior to the meeting to secure adequate case preparation (WA 3.54/4). Optimal frequency of MDT meetings was weekly according to 76.92% of the participants; 73.06% believed that ideally all newly diagnosed patients and each new treatment should be discussed, although that happened only in less than half of the MDTs (46.15%) in current practice. Most participants stated that they always (46.15%) or often (50.00%) used guidelines, mainly international (61.00%) [European and American], followed by national/local (39.00%). We defined the ideal set-up of a CCA MDT, identifying specialists whose presence is mandatory with WA > 3.0 (oncologist, clinician responsible for patient’s care, surgeon, diagnostic and interventional radiologist, hepatologist, pathologist, endoscopist and gastroenterologist) and those whose presence should be recommended with a WA < 3.0 (palliative care, nurse, dietitian, basic researcher, psychologist and social worker). Our identified minimum requirements should be taken into account at the time of CCA MDT set-up and quality assessment.

Keywords: Multidisciplinary team; cholangiocarcinoma; survey; current practice; Europe