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. 2022 Jan 20;12(2):135.
doi: 10.3390/jpm12020135.

Neuro-Oncology Multidisciplinary Tumor Board: The Point of View of the Neuroradiologist

Simona Gaudino  1 , Carolina Giordano  1 , Francesca Magnani  1 , Simone Cottonaro  2 , Amato Infante  3 , Giovanni Sabatino  4   5 , Giuseppe La Rocca  4   5 , Giuseppe Maria Della Pepa  4 , Quintino Giorgio D'Alessandris  4 , Roberto Pallini  4 , Alessandro Olivi  4 , Mario Balducci  6 , Silvia Chiesa  6 , Marco Gessi  7 , Pamela Guadalupi  8 , Rosellina Russo  1 , Chiara Schiarelli  1 , Luca Ausili Cefaro  1 , Giuseppe Maria Di Lella  1 , Cesare Colosimo  1
Affiliations

Neuro-Oncology Multidisciplinary Tumor Board: The Point of View of the Neuroradiologist

Simona Gaudino et al. J Pers Med. .

Abstract

Background: The multi-disciplinary tumor board (MTB) is essential to quality cancer care and currently recommended to offer the best personalized clinical approach, but little has been published regarding MTBs in neuro-oncology (nMTBs). The aim of the present paper is to describe our nMTB, to evaluate its impact on clinical management decisions, and to assess the role of neuroradiologists.

Methods: The retrospective evaluation of the cases discussed at our nMTB from March 2017 to March 2020. From the electronic records, we extracted epidemiological, clinical and other specific data of nMTB. From the radiological records, we calculated data relating to the number, time for revision, and other specifications of MRI re-evaluation. Statistical analysis was performed.

Results: a total of 447 discussions were analyzed, representing 342 patients. The requests for case evaluations came from radiation oncologists (58.8%) and neurosurgeons (40.5%), and were mainly addressed to the neuroradiologist (73.8%). The most frequent questions were about the treatment's changes (64.4%). The change in patient treatment was reported in 40.5% of cases, 76.8% of these were based on the neuroradiologic assessment. A total of 1514 MRI examinations were re-evaluated, employing approximately 67 h overall. The median of the MRI exams reviewed per patient was 3 (min-max 1-12).

Conclusions: Our study supported that the multidisciplinary approach to patient care can be particularly effective in managing brain tumors. A review by an expert neuroradiologist impacts patient management in the context of nMTBs, but has costs in terms of the time and effort spent preparing for it.

Keywords: MRI; brain metastases; brain tumors; gliomas; multidisciplinary tumor board; neuro-oncology; neuroradiology.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The frequency of the different histotypes of brain tumors discussed over three years at our nMTB.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Box plots showing the distribution of the number of MRI exams revised at our nMTB, stratified by brain tumor histotype.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Box plot diagram of the time (minutes) vs. the number of MRI exams evaluated/case.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Box plot diagram of the time (minutes) vs. the number of external MRI exams re-evaluated.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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