There’s no “I” in cure.

The complexities that go into the definitive treatment of advanced head and neck (H&N) cancers can lead to life-threatening treatment delays. Bearing in mind that best outcomes are achieved when treatment is initiated within 30 days of diagnosis, oncologists at Washington University decided to take a look at the impact of single-day multidisciplinary appointments on minimizing treatment delays for new H&N patients. Wash U established a multi-D H&N cancer clinic in 2015 comprising five distinct medial specialities. That’s great on paper, but did it actually make a difference? A retrospective analysis comparing outcomes following new patient consultations performed in the single-day multi-D clinic versus in traditional clinics over the first year of the pilot program was reported last month in JAMA H&N. Delays of >30 days from consultation to treatment initiation were significantly slashed to less than half: from 17/73 (23%) with traditional consultations to 7/68 (10%) with the multi-D clinic. In the spirit of teamwork, ASCO recently endorsed the new ASTRO guidelines for the treatment of oropharyngeal cancer. The one line synopsis to it all: we’re all better (and more efficient) when we work together.