OTHR-09. HEALTHCARE PROVIDERS’ PERSPECTIVES ON MALAYSIA-SINGAPORE VIRTUAL PEDIATRIC NEURO-ONCOLOGY TUMOR BOARD MEETING

Virtual pediatric neuro-oncology tumor board meetings have been reported to be highly beneficial in improving the delivery of high-quality care for childhood central nervous system (CNS) tumors. However, such meetings are lacking in the Asia Pacific region. Hence, we initiated the first pediatric neuro-oncology online platform in the Asia Pacific region in January 2019, and we aimed to describe the participants’ perception of the virtual tumor board meetings. We retrospectively reviewed all cases from January 2019 to December 2023 and conducted a web-based survey to all participants in December 2023. Centers that presented more than five cases were invited to assess the impact of virtual meetings. Fifty-four meetings have been conducted over five years. A total of 160 cases were presented by 20 institutions from six Asian countries, which include Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines, Vietnam, India, and Taiwan. Thirty participants responded to the survey. Majority of them attended the meetings to enhance their knowledge in pediatric neuro-oncology (96.7%), to learn evidence-based management (83.3%), and to build connections with regional colleagues and international experts (53.3%). Almost all concluded that tumor board meetings improved treatment decisions, addressed challenges of complex CNS tumor cases, and promoted continuity of care with appropriate post-surgical chemotherapy administration and surveillance investigations after completion of treatment. The main reason for case discussion was diagnostic difficulties followed by multimodal treatment advice (85.7%). More than 25% of management changes were observed in pathological diagnosis and treatment approaches. All the hospitals reported that the online case discussions improved pediatric neuro-oncology service delivery capacity and increased local team competence. Virtual pediatric neuro-oncology tumor board meetings facilitated improvement in pathological diagnosis and multimodal treatment approach. The establishment of virtual CNS tumor board meetings is an effective way to seek international expert advice and promote pediatric neuro-oncology education in our region.