The molecular tumor board

Precision oncology is an integral part of patient care in the centers for personalized medicine of the German Network for Personalized Medicine at many university hospitals. The aim is to provide patients with advanced and rare tumor diseases, for whom classic guideline-conform treatment is no longer an option, access to molecular targeted therapy. To this end, a comprehensive molecular examination of the tumor tissue is carried out and a search is performed for genetic changes that can be targeted with medication. The molecular tumor board is the central body of precision oncology, in which experts from different disciplines discuss cases and recommend possible treatment options. The classic concept of tumor therapy is largely abandoned; the treatment recommendations are increasingly based on entity-agnostic approaches and off-label therapies that are strictly oriented towards the individual molecular profile of the tumor and for which a promising effect has been achieved in other tumor entities or case reports. Pathology plays a key role here, as the results of the molecular examinations are summarized in an integrative pathological-anatomical report and interpreted and evaluated in the context of the diagnosis.