Development of multidisciplinary committees for decision making and care management in hereditary colon cancer: the French state of the art.

Multidisciplinary Committees (MDC) in France were established by the Institut National du Cancer for the management of therapeutic cancer treatment. We wanted to know if this approach is being utilized in Cancer Genetics, in particular for patients with a digestive cancer predisposition. A questionnaire was sent to the 33 French oncogenetic centers. Responses were received from all clinics. We found that 76 % of centers regularly use MDCs for the management of hereditary digestive cancers. Familial colon cancer cases were the most common situation, in which MDCs were utilized. Participation of various medical specialists was reported as follows: geneticists (100 %), gastroenterologists (76 %), genetic counselors (84 %), surgeons (32 %), and biologists (36 %). Twenty percent of centers consult MDCs for every patient compared to 80 % of centers that use MDCs only for select cases. MDCs represent a multidisciplinary approach for patients affected by inherited cancers and may optimize follow-up for genetic screening and further care management.