Does multicenter care impact the outcomes of surgical patients with gastrointestinal malignancies requiring complex multimodality therapy?

Background Regionalization of oncologic care has increased, but less is known whether patient outcomes are influenced by receipt of multimodality care through multicenter care (MCC) or single-center care (SCC). Methods Patients from 2004 to 2015 National Cancer Data Base diagnosed with stage II-III esophageal (EA), stage II-III pancreatic (PA), and stage II-IV rectal (RA) adenocarcinoma who underwent resection at a high volume center (HVC) and required radiation and/or chemotherapy were included. MCC (care at 2+ facilities) and SCC patients were propensity-score matched 1:2 and Cox proportional hazards regression used to analyze survival. Results On multivariable regression analysis, MCC in RA patients (N = 325/2097, 15.5%) was more associated with residing >= 40 miles from the HVC (odds ratio [OR] = 2.37;P = .044) and receipt of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (1.42,P = .040). In PA patients (N = 75/380, 19.7%), residing >= 40 miles from the HVC (OR = 3.22;P = .001), and in EA patients (N = 88/534, 16.5%), younger patients (P = .011) were associated with MCC. Following propensity score matching, EA (N = 147), PA (N = 133), and RA (N = 661) patients had no difference in 1-year and 3-year overall survival when comparing MCC to SCC. Conclusions The use of MCC appears safe without a difference in survival and may offer significant advantages in convenience to patients as they undergo their complex oncologic care.