Impact of early access to multidisciplinary care on treatment outcomes in patients with skull base chordoma

Objective: To determine if early access to multidisciplinary surgical care affects outcomes in patients with skull base chordoma. Method: A retrospective chart review of prospectively collected data was performed on 51 patients treated from 1993 to 2014. The cohort was divided into those presenting (1) for initial management (ID, n = 21) or (2) with persistent/progressive disease after prior biopsy/surgery (PD, n = 30) outside of a multidisciplinary setting. The impact of initial surgical management in a multidisciplinary center on progression-free survival (PFS) was assessed with Kaplan-Meier and log-rank analyses. Results: Mean follow-up, median PFS, median overall survival (OS), and 10-year OS for the entire cohort was 70 months, 47 months, 159 months, and 19%, respectively. Initial management in a multidisciplinary center resulted in a significant improvement in PFS versus initial surgery with or without radiotherapy (XRT) outside of this setting (64 vs 25 months, p = 0.035). Initial surgical resection outside of a multidisciplinary setting increased the risk of recurrence/progression on univariate (HR, 2.276; p = 0.022) and multivariate analysis (HR, 2.831; p = 0.006), respectively. Conclusions: The results from this study emphasize the impact that coordinated multidisciplinary surgical care has on patient outcomes for chordomas of the clivus. Biopsy followed by attempted radical resection at a dedicated center does not affect PFS and, therefore, represents a reasonable first step in management for patients presenting outside of multidisciplinary setting.