Tumour Board Review — Before You Start Chemotherapy
A tumour board is a meeting where specialists from different disciplines review your case together before treatment begins. Most patients are never told whether this happened. Asking is one of the most useful things you can do before your first session.
Medically reviewed by Dr. T. Raghavender Reddy, Medical Oncologist, MBBS · DM (Medical Oncology) · MD (Radiation Oncology) · Last reviewed September 2026
- More than one opinion, built in — A tumour board brings your oncologist, surgeon, radiologist, and pathologist together at once, not separately.
- It sometimes changes the plan — Review by multiple specialists can catch a detail that shifts the recommended treatment before anything has started.
- Most patients are not told — Board review often happens without the patient knowing. You can — and should — ask directly.
- You can request it — If your case has not been discussed yet, you can ask for it to be reviewed before treatment begins.
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A tumour board is a meeting where your medical oncologist, surgeon, radiation oncologist, radiologist, and pathologist review your case together before recommending treatment. NCCN and ESMO guidelines recommend this for complex cancer cases. You can ask your oncologist directly: 'Was my case discussed at a tumour board meeting?'
What should you ask before starting chemotherapy?
- Was my case discussed at a tumour board or MDT meeting?
- Which specialists were present — surgeon, radiation oncologist, radiologist, pathologist?
- Did any specialist suggest a different approach, and how was that resolved?
- If my case has not been reviewed yet, can it be discussed before treatment starts?
- Can I get a written summary of what the board recommended?
- Should my case go back to the board if my results or staging change?
Where to find us
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Trained at AIIMS, Tata Memorial, and leading international centres. Combined 150+ years of experience. Every complex case is reviewed by 3+ of them — together.
Dr. C. Raghavendra Reddy
MBBS(Gold Medal), DNB(General Medicine), DM(Medical Oncology)(Gold Medal)
Dr. Bharati Devi Gorantla
MBBS, MD(General Medicine), DM(Medical Oncology)(Adyar,Chennai), ECMO, MRCP SCE(UK)
Dr. Owais Mohammed
MBBS, MD (General Medicine), DrNB (Medical Oncology), ECMO, MRCP SCE (Medical Oncology) (UK)
Dr. Muralidhar Muddusetty
MBBS (AIIMS), MS (Surgery) (AIIMS), DNB (Surgical Oncology), MRCS (Edinburgh)
Dr. Vinay Mamidala
MBBS, MS(General Surgery), M.Ch(Surgical Oncology), FMAS, FARIS(Ongoing)
Dr. Vajja Sandeep Kumar
MBBS, MS (General Surgery), DrNB (Surgical Oncology), FALS Oncology
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What does a tumour board actually do with your case?
Specialists from different fields — medical oncology, surgery, radiation oncology, radiology, and pathology — meet together to review new cases, usually once a week. Your scans, biopsy results, and history are presented and discussed without you in the room.
The purpose is not to repeat what each doctor has already said individually. It is to find what may have been missed — a scan the radiologist reads differently, a staging detail that changes whether surgery should come first, a biomarker test that had not yet been ordered.
If your case was not discussed before your plan was made, ask now. Most oncologists welcome this question. A good team will either confirm it happened, or arrange for it to happen before you start.
Did you know?
NCCN and ESMO both recommend multidisciplinary team review for all new cancer diagnoses before treatment begins. Audits at cancer centres with active tumour boards have found that specialist discussion led to a change in the recommended treatment plan in a meaningful proportion of new cases.
Most patients are never told this review happened — or that it did not.
Source: NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines; ESMO Recommendations on Multidisciplinary Cancer Care
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Frequently asked questions
What exactly happens at a tumour board meeting?
Specialists from different disciplines — your surgeon, medical oncologist, radiation oncologist, radiologist, and pathologist — meet together, usually once a week, to discuss new and complex cases. Your scans, biopsy results, and clinical history are presented. Each specialist gives their view, and the group agrees on a recommended plan. You are not in the room. The result is a treatment recommendation reviewed from several angles at once, rather than by one doctor working alone.
How do I ask if my case was discussed at a tumour board?
Ask your oncologist directly: 'Was my case presented at a tumour board or MDT meeting?' A clear yes or no is a reasonable answer to expect. If the answer is yes, ask what was discussed and what was decided. If the answer is no, ask whether it can be reviewed before treatment begins. Most oncologists take this as a sign of engagement, not as a challenge to their judgement.
Is tumour board review required before chemotherapy in India?
There is no legal requirement, but NCCN, ESMO, and ASCO all recommend multidisciplinary review before starting treatment for most cancers. At CION, cases are reviewed at regular multidisciplinary team meetings before treatment begins. If you are being treated elsewhere and are unsure whether this has happened, asking your oncologist directly is the most reliable way to find out.
What if my case was not discussed — should I be worried?
Not necessarily. Some straightforward, early-stage cases are managed effectively without a formal board review. What matters is whether your oncologist has access to specialist input from surgery, pathology, and radiology as needed for your specific situation. If your cancer is complex, at an uncertain stage, or requires more than one treatment modality, asking for a board review before you start is a reasonable and legitimate request.
Can a tumour board change my treatment plan?
It can, and sometimes does — that is precisely the point. A radiologist may read a scan differently. A surgical oncologist may suggest that the timing of surgery should change. A pathologist may flag a detail that leads to additional testing before a decision is made. Whether a change happens depends entirely on your case. The value of the review is in having multiple specialists look before treatment starts, not after.
Is a multidisciplinary team meeting the same as a tumour board?
Yes. A multidisciplinary team meeting, or MDT, is the same as a tumour board — both describe a structured meeting where specialists from different disciplines review a case together. Your oncologist may use either term. The question to ask is the same regardless of the name: whether specialists from multiple fields reviewed your case before your treatment plan was finalised.
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