Multi-Disciplinary Tumor Boards: “Imaging is Emerging”

Abstract

Multidisciplinary Tumor Board (MDT) meetings, sometimes also referred to as multidisciplinary tumor conferences, or multidisciplinary tumor boards, are conducted to involve clinicians from all concerned specialties to discuss diagnostic and treatment options for patients diagnosed with cancer¹.  Such meetings are considered integral part of comprehensive oncological care provision. However, in the developing countries, we are not fully tuned into this important component of good clinical practice (GCP) which is definitely influencing our overall care outcomes. This is the time for medical community engaged in cancer management globally to acknowledge the fact that that cancer management is not a single person’s job¹. Medical and radiation oncologists, pathologist, oncological surgeons, radiologist and nuclear physicians are the integral part of the MDT.   The pathologist-radiologist correlation helps in better tumor staging whereas surgeon-oncologist correlation results in improved treatment plan. With the advent of hybrid imaging like PET/CT and PET/MR, role of imaging has considerably increased. In fact these hybrid imaging are considered as standard of care in management of many tumor like lymphoma. Hybrid imaging undeniably contributes in staging, restaging, response evaluation, prognostication and early detection of tumor recurrence. It is a known fact that based on findings of hybrid imaging, down or upstaging in tumor has been observed in a sizeable portion of patients which indeed helps to modify the treatment strategies accordingly. Their role has also become more important in response evaluation due to introduction of many tumoristatic therapies where metabolic response is the harbinger of response as compared to tumoricidal treatment where a change in anatomic size is the response evaluation parameter. Imaging persons now also have better liaison with radiation oncologists by providing information about metabolic tumor volume and image guided radiation therapy (IGRT).