Tumour Board Review — Before You Start Chemotherapy

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.