Systematic review of multidisciplinary team strategies and novel research in rare and complex clinical cases

Table 3 Characteristics and outcomes of included studies

Domain	Summary	Representative references
Clinical area	Studies predominantly addressed oncology, with additional representation from cardiology, neurology, and autoimmune diseases. Rare cancers, congenital cardiovascular disease, complex neurological disorders, and atypical autoimmune syndromes were commonly reported	Oncology:[18,19,22,26-39,45,46]; cardiology/congenital heart disease:[21,40,41]; neurology:[42,47]; autoimmune/complex disease contexts:[43,48]
MDT composition	MDTs typically included physicians and surgeons, with regular involvement of radiologists and pathologists. Expanded MDTs incorporated molecular pathologists, geneticists, nurses, allied health professionals, and bioinformaticians in complex cases	[18,19,23,26-28,30,33-38,42,45,46]
MDT model	MDT formats included traditional tumor boards, molecular tumor boards, interdisciplinary case conferences, and virtual or network-based MDTs, particularly for rare or geographically dispersed cases	Traditional MDTs:[19,22,29,30,36,39,42]; molecular tumor boards:[18,23,26-28,31,34,38]; virtual/network MDTs:[23,36-37,44]
Innovation	Studies reported integration of genomics, precision medicine, high-throughput sequencing, and artificial intelligence-assisted clinical decision support within MDT workflows, particularly in oncology and rare disease care	Genomics/NGS:[18,26-28,31-35,38]; precision medicine:[18,26-28,44]; AI/ML decision support:[29,37]
Outcomes	MDT involvement was associated with improved diagnostic accuracy, treatment modification, and optimized care pathways. Evidence for survival and quality-of-life benefits was limited and heterogeneous, with outcomes often reported as intermediate or process-level measures	Diagnostic/treatment modification:[18,23,26-28,30,34,38]; care pathway optimization/process outcomes:[21,23,38,42,44]; limited survival/quality-of-life data:[19,22,30,39]

MDT: Multidisciplinary team; NGS: Next-generation sequencing; AI: Artificial intelligence; ML: Machine learning.