Impact of a multidisciplinary approach and patient routing on the outcomes of treatment of patients with hepatocellular cancer

Introduction: Hepatocellular cancer (HCC) is the sixth most common form of cancer worldwide and the third most common cause of cancer death. The long-term results of treatment are influenced by organizational decisions aimed at increasing the availability of specialized care. The purpose of our study is to evaluate the impact of rerouting and the introduction of a multidisciplinary approach on overall survival (OS) of patients with HCC. Materials and methods. A retrospective study was conducted to study the treatment tactics and results of treatment in all patients with HCC registered in the Sverdlovsk Regional Oncological Cancer Registry with a diagnosis of HCC from 2015 to 2021. A comparative analysis was carried out in 3 groups of patients: the control group, before changes, group of patients after changes in routing, and a group of patients with multidisciplinary approach involving a gastroenterologist/hepatologist and an interventional oncologist.

Results: There is an increase in the number of patients who received advice from an oncologist and referred for specialized treatment: 12.0 %, 19.5 % and 34.9 %, respectively (p < 0.001). Median OS increased significantly only in the multidisciplinary approach group of 3.1 versus 2.2 months (p = 0.002). Low overall survival rates are associated with a large proportion of late stages. A significant increase in OS was registered in the group of patients with BCLC C stage: from 3.4 months to 12.5 months (p = 0.046).

Conclusions: Simplifying the patient's route from a gastroenterologist to an oncologist shortens the time to treatment start, increases the number of patients who receive advisory assistance in an oncological dispensary, but does not affect OS. A multidisciplinary approach allows more patients to receive specialized care. At the same time, the maximum effect on OS is noted at the BCLC C stage.

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