• Sobia F Khaja and Christopher T Wilke.
• Department of Otolaryngology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN.
• J. Am. Coll. Surg. 2024 Oct 9.

BackgroundProlongation of treatment package time is strongly associated with inferior oncologic outcomes. We examine the effect of creation of a multidisciplinary head and neck clinic on treatment package times.Study DesignThis was a retrospective cohort study evaluating treatment package time in patients receiving adjuvant radiation through a multidisciplinary clinic compared with standard clinics at a single academic institution between 7/31/2020 and 7/31/2022.ResultsAdjuvant radiotherapy was administered to 23 patients in multidisciplinary clinic, 68 patients in standard clinic and 17 patients in satellite clinics. Patients seen in multidisciplinary clinic began adjuvant radiation sooner (median 35 vs 41 vs 48 days, p=0.01) with more compact treatment package times (median 78 vs 84 vs 86 days, p=0.003). Nine patient (13%) in standard clinics and 4 patients (24%) at the satellite clinics had adjuvant treatment package times exceeding 100 days. No patient seen in multidisciplinary clinic had treatment package times exceeding 100 days.ConclusionsColocalization of radiation oncology and otolaryngology care in multidisciplinary clinic substantially improved time to postoperative radiotherapy and treatment package times. This is likely due to the identification of patients requiring adjuvant radiation earlier in their clinical presentation which in turn allowed for advanced planning and minimization of delays in initiation of adjuvant radiation.Copyright © 2024 by the American College of Surgeons. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.

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