Status of radiotherapy in a multidisciplinary cancer board

Multidisciplinary cancer boards (CBs) for making cancer treatment decisions have become popular in many countries; however, the status of radiotherapy in CBs and the influence of CBs on radiotherapy decisions have not been studied. To clarify these issues, we reviewed the minutes of our CBs from February 2010 to March 2012, and we classified planned treatments discussed at the CBs into five categories and analyzed decisions concerning radiotherapy in each category. The fraction of cases for which radiotherapy was recommended was 536/757 (71%). These cases included 478 cases (63%) for which radiation therapy was planned and four cases (0.5%) for which radiation therapy was unexpectedly recommended. On the other hand, radiation therapy was canceled in 21 cases (4%) for which radiation therapy had been planned. This study showed that radiotherapy was discussed in many cases at CBs and that CBs have a great influence on decisions concerning radiotherapy.