Opinion Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Oncol. Jun 24, 2022; 13(6): 423-428
Published online Jun 24, 2022. doi: 10.5306/wjco.v13.i6.423
Implementation of a virtual multicenter gastrointestinal tumor board to reduce cancer disparities in Argentina
Federico Esteso, Natalia Soledad Tissera, Juan Manuel O'Connor, Romina Luca, Eduardo Huertas, Fernando Sánchez Loria, Ivana Pedraza, Alejandro Pairola, Fernando Brancato, Lisandro Paganini, Mariana Kucharczyk, Mora Amat, Maria Teresa Pombo, Mariana Galli, Luisina Bruno, Luis Caro, Andrés Rodriguez, Diego Enrico, Federico Waisberg, Matías Chacón
Federico Esteso, Natalia Soledad Tissera, Juan Manuel O'Connor, Romina Luca, Luisina Bruno, Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Instituto Alexander Fleming, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina
Eduardo Huertas, Fernando Sánchez Loria, Ivana Pedraza, Alejandro Pairola, Fernando Brancato, Department of Surgery, Instituto Alexander Fleming, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina
Lisandro Paganini, Mariana Kucharczyk, Department of Radiology, Instituto Alexander Fleming, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina
Mora Amat, Maria Teresa Pombo, Department of Pathology, Instituto Alexander Fleming, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina
Mariana Galli, Department of Radiation Oncology, Instituto Alexander Fleming, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina
Luis Caro, Department of Gastroenterology, Instituto Alexander Fleming, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina
Andrés Rodriguez, Diego Enrico, Federico Waisberg, Matías Chacón, Department of Medical Oncology, Instituto Alexander Fleming, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina
Author contributions: Esteso F and Tissera NS contributed to the conception and design; Enrico D and Waisberg F performed the administrative support; Esteso F and Tissera NS contributed to the collection and assembly of data; Esteso F, Tissera NS, Enrico D, Waisberg F and Andrés R contributed to the data analysis and interpretation; All authors performed the provision of study materials or patients, manuscript writing, final approval of manuscript and are accountable for all aspects of the work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Federico Esteso, MD, Department of Gastrointestinal Medical Oncology, Instituto Alexander Fleming, 1180 Crámer, Buenos Aires 1426, Argentina. federico.esteso@yahoo.com
Received: January 13, 2022
Peer-review started: January 14, 2022
First decision: March 24, 2022
Revised: April 10, 2022
Accepted: June 4, 2022
Article in press: June 4, 2022
Published online: June 24, 2022
Processing time: 159 Days and 13.4 Hours
Abstract

Given the increasing complexity of cancer care, multidisciplinary tumor boards have become essential in daily clinical oncology practice. The Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes (ECHO) initiative developed an innovative telementoring model using a "hub and spoke" design consisting of a team of experts (hub) that offers a full service to multiple participants (the spokes) during regularly scheduled sessions discussing patients' clinical cases. The Alexander Fleming Cancer Institute in Buenos Aires was the first hub in Latin America to implement Project ECHO for gastrointestinal tumors. In our 3-year experience, 80 patients from 37 centers were evaluated within Project ECHO and a range of three to five cases were discussed in each meeting. From our perspective, the impact of this novel approach was a remarkable strategy to reduce care disparities by equalizing access to high-quality medical knowledge in a multidisciplinary environment for medical discussions. Additionally, it was shown to have a cost-effective impact directly on the patients and the local health system, since relevant costs were saved after unnecessary treatments, studies and travel expenses were avoided.

Keywords: Tumor board; Virtual; Gastrointestinal; Cancer disparities; Oncology; Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes project

Core Tip: Tumor boards (TBs) have existed for the last 50 years, and at the present time, represent an essential strategy in daily clinical oncology practice. We reported our positive experience and perspective with a novel approach of multidisciplinary virtual TBs using an innovative telementoring model called Project Extension for Community Healthcare Outcomes. This first experience in Latin America for gastrointestinal tumors has shown to reduce care disparities by equalizing access to high-quality medical knowledge in a context of a multidisciplinary environment for medical discussions.