Over 1.4 million cancer cases are reported annually in India and most of these patients are diagnosed at stage III or IV1, making the overall treatment complex and layered. In such scenarios, multidisciplinary approaches not just hasten the treatment course but also result in better patient outcomes as it bring down mortality rates and boost survival rates.
The cancer care continuum is constantly and rapidly evolving. The multidisciplinary approach goes beyond just treating the disease – the team helps the patient through the treatment journey by providing the right guidance and emotional support. It calls for better collaboration and communication across different specialties. While Parkway Cancer Centre based in Singapore started this practice decades ago with a small team, today they are the pioneers in this segment.
Dr. Ang Peng Tiam, Senior Consultant, Medical Oncologist and Medical Director said, “A multidisciplinary approach simplifies the patients’ life as they don’t have to juggle between multiple appointments. Case in point, if a patient is diagnosed with HER-2 positive breast cancer they would need to see a gynecologist to do the diagnosis, a surgeon who would operate on the tumor, a plastic surgeon for any surgical recreation of organs separately. But with an multidisciplinary team, this process is simplified into a single planned module. This not just saves time for the patients, but it also brings down the emotional burden and trauma.”
Apart from coordinated teams, this approach also helps India in addressing the cancer burden with virtual expert teams. These teams help bridge the gap between urban and rural India as they guide local doctors to better plan treatment schedules.
