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107 Background: Genomic profiling is increasingly employed to support diagnosis and treatment of cancer. Our Molecular tumor boards (MTBs) serves as a collaborative platform for a multi-disciplinary team of oncologists, pathologists, scientists, bioinformaticians, genetic counsellors and research coordinators to discuss and match patients to the most relevant therapies and/or clinical trials. We report here the evaluation of our MTBs for year 2023 with the aim of identifying challenges and opportunities for successful implementation of precision oncology. Methods: Regular monthly MTBs were conducted to discuss molecular profiles from predominantly advanced-stage patients enrolled to the IMPACT study (Individualized Molecular Profiling for Allocation to Clinical Trials NCT02806388). Next-generation sequencing was performed either in-house using Oncomine or commercial FoundationOne panels. Additional tests such as whole transcriptome sequencing (WTS), immunohistochemistry (IHC) and fluorescent in-situ hybridization (FISH) were also performed where indicated. MTB recommendations were documented for follow-up and analysis. Results: A total of 102 out of 611 profiled patients were discussed in MTBs in 2023, with an average of 8.6 patients per month. Top 3 cancer types were gastrointestinal (32%), breast (18%) and lung (18%). 65/102 (63.7%) cases had MTB recommendations, of which 21 (20.6%) had multiple recommendations. Overall uptake rate for recommendations was 23.8% (29/122). Conclusions: MTB plays an important role in identifying therapeutic opportunities by factoring in patient variables, available data and physician experience while at the same time provides an avenue for further investigation to gather cumulative evidence. Frequent reasons encountered for not adopting the recommendations include: (1) insufficient sample to proceed with further investigations, (2) limited access to off-label treatments, and (3) additional considerations to participate in clinical trials. To fully realize the value of MTB, we will focus on (1) defining the molecular tests for efficient profiling, (2) crafting a route for special access to treatments and (3) increasing awareness and understanding of clinical trials. Table: see text
Ang et al. (Sat,) studied this question.