Benefits And Risks of Patient Participation in Multidisciplinary Tumor Conferences Findings of The Mixed Methods PINTU Study

Background: Multidisciplinary tumor conferences (MTCs) are regular scheduled meetings of a multidisciplinary treatment team, in which the diagnosis and treatment of individual cancer patients are discussed and a treatment recommendation is given. Previous research in breast cancer centers throughout Germany revealed that between 5 to 7% of patients have participated in MTCs during their own case discussion (e.g. Ansmann et al. 2014). Research on this phenomenon and its benefits and risks is rare and has only been conducted in Germany and Australia, yet. The PINTU study (Heuser et al. 2019) aimed to fill this gap by answering the following research questions: A) How do the providers perceive participation of patients in MTCs with regard to feasibility and quality of decision-making? B) How do MTCs with and without patient participation differ with regard to organisation, interaction and patient orientation? C) How do patients experience the participation and what direct cognitive and emotional effects can be observed? Since the PINTU study explores this multifaceted phenomenon from various angles, we aim to provide a synopsis of the findings.