What is a breast cancer tumor board?

The work of a tumor board (sometimes called a “tumor team”) is important for ensuring quality patient care, accurate diagnoses, and effective treatment plans.

This multidisciplinary team typically is composed of cancer experts, such as the facility’s medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, surgeons, pathologists, mammographers, oncology nurses, and assistants. This team has regular tumor board meetings to discuss the details of recent patient cancer diagnoses and treatment plans. The reason this matters to you is because more heads are better than one in figuring out your breast cancer’s ‘personality,’ as well as the best course of treatment for fighting it. As J. B. Askew, Jr., M.D., an experienced pathologist in Houston, Texas, explains, “Pre-treatment conferences work by helping everyone who is taking care of a patient to be on the same page . . . This is an extremely powerful way for treatment to begin for a woman with breast cancer.”

Breast cancer tumor boards are multiple specialist that will discuss cases of breast cancers including treatment, diagnosis, and management. These boards are very useful for difficult and atypical breast cancer cases. Specialist may include medical oncologist, general breast surgeon, plastic and reconstructive surgeons, and radiologists. The main goal of these committees is to determine the best course of action for each specific breast cancer patient.

Tumor boards are regularly scheduled patient conferences where the cases of cancer patients are discussed in a multidisciplinary manner. Generally, tumor boards include surgeons, medical oncologists, radiation oncologists, pathologists, radiologists, and other cancer specialists. In most cases, the tumor board will reach a consensus for a treatment plan for each patient who is presented.

Robert A. Wascher, MD, FACS
Author, "A Cancer Prevention Guide for the Human Race"
www.doctorwascher.com

 

During a tumor board conference, a group of experts get together and discuss a case and suggest appropriate treatment options. Usually it is a multidisciplinary team that includes a breast surgeon, a radiation oncologist, medical oncologist and other members such as a nurse, social worker, genetic counselor, research nurse plastic surgeon etc. The purpose is to help suggest the best approach to treatment after considering several expert opinions.

A breast cancer tumor board is a meeting where all of the specialists that take care of individuals living with breast cancer get together and discuss the best approaches to treatment. The doctors present usually include medical oncologists (me), radiation oncologists, surgical oncologists, pathologists and primary care physicians on the patient's team. Collaboration is the name of the game at these conferences, typically lasting an hour. We discuss research, look at pathology slides, but most importantly, we remember the human being that is living with breast cancer and how best to treat her.