Oncology treatment improvement--our experience in Serbia.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: To determine weather structural changes by a tumor board made any difference in quality of treatment for oncology patients. MATERIAL AND METHOD: Current management of our hospital initiated structural changes in the tumor board in January 2010 and improvement was measured through comparing the clinical staging of cervical cancer to previous tumor board results. RESULTS: 365 patients were seen by a multidisciplinary tumor board from January to December of 2010. There were 146 cases of cervical cancer. 87 were staged as Ib-IIa for radical surgery, 59 patients were staged as advanced stage of disease and RT was proposed as well as combined radio-chemotherapy in some cases. CONCLUSION: Structural changes in the tumor board have made a significant improvement in the oncology care of our patients, primarily because of a multidisciplinary approach to gynecological malignancies and additional imaging performed in all cases of cervical cancer for better insight in the spread of the disease.