Implementation of a Clinical Decision Support System for Precision Oncology across an Academic Network

Abstract There is a growing need for systems that efficiently support the work of medical teams at the precision oncology point-of-care. Here we present the implementation of the Molecular Tumor Board Portal (MTBP), an academic clinical decision support system that creates a unified legal, scientific and technological platform to share and harness next-generation sequencing data across the Cancer Core Europe network. Automating the interpretation and reporting of sequencing results decreased drastically the need for manual procedures that are time consuming and prone to errors. In addition, the adoption of an expert-agreed process to systematically link tumor molecular profiles with clinical actions promoted consistent decision-making and structured data capture across centers. Finally, the use of information-rich patient reports with interactive content facilitated collaborative discussion of complex cases during virtual molecular tumor board meetings. Overall, we believe that streamlined digital systems like the MTBP are crucial to better address the challenges brought by precision oncology and accelerate the use of emerging biomarkers.