Strategies to improve activity and results of the head and neck tumor board

Solid tumors represent chronic disease that can be rarely detected, diagnosed and treated without the use of a multidisciplinary team. When a neoplastic disease is initially evaluated, involvement of a single physician does not seem to be sufficient to establish diagnosis and staging. Assessment of each individual case of malignancy is the main purpose of the entire medical staff engaged in treating cancer patients. In Romania, the use of oncology committee with a multidisciplinary form of organization has been set to work in Bucharest and Cluj-Napoca, since the beginning of 1978 under direct supervision of professors Alexandru Trestioreanu and Ion Chiricuță. The joint session of the tumor board resides into establishing the optimal oncology therapy for each patient. The task of informing the patient about the decision is performed by the physician that is overseeing the patients’ evolution. There is no mandatory oncology therapy action from behalf of the physician after the decision of the tumor board was made. However, it is more likely for head and neck cancer patients to receive better, more accurate staging, as well as optimal oncology therapy in a local or academic hospital tumor board setup.