Objectives: There is disagreement over the prognostic value of multidisciplinary team (MDT) discussion for advanced gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs). This study examined how an MDT affected patients with advanced GISTs in terms of their overall survival (OS) and whether it may enhance their performance status (PS).
Methods: A retrospective data analysis was conducted on patients with advanced GISTs between 2000 and 2022. Depending on whether they had received the MDT discussion intervention, the patients were split into two groups. The OS between the two groups was compared using the Kaplan-Meier method. A multivariate Cox regression analysis was used to analyze the prognostic variables for advanced GIST. Fisher's test was used to investigate the relationship between an MDT and PS.
Results: There were 122 patients with an MDT and 117 patients without an MDT in this study. In comparison to the non-MDT group, the MDT group showed a higher survival rate (5-year OS, 42.62% vs. 28.21%, p < 0.05). MDT was an independent prognostic factor for OS in univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses (p < 0.05). Fisher's test revealed that there were variations in PS between the two groups (p < 0.05).
Conclusions: The effectiveness of an MDT in the treatment of advanced GIST was examined for the first time in this study. MDT discussion intervention is an effective measure for improving the outcomes of patients with advanced GISTs.
Keywords: gastrointestinal stromal tumor; multidisciplinary team; overall survival; performance status; prognosis.