Abstract
Telecollaboration via web-based platforms has emerged as a tool to relieve constraints on the establishment of tumor boards for neurosurgical oncology. Challenging tumor cases arising in low- and middle-income countries may benefit from the use of such models. The case of a 5-year-old boy presenting in Western Kenya with a challenging tumor and symptomatic hydrocephalus was presented on a novel web platform to a multi-national audience of neurosurgeons. The treating neurosurgeon invited a physician network to review the case vignette and radiographic images. Respondents independently offered input during a prescribed response period. Three respondents provided surgical opinions during a 24-h response period. The treating neurosurgeon utilized the pooled input to determine a course of action for the patient. When a web-based platform is available, lone neurosurgeons in low-resource settings may nevertheless apply multi-national, multi-institutional perspectives to challenging oncology cases.
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The authors thank Dan Brodsky for making Virtual Board freely available to the Tenwek Mission Hospital and its supporters.
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Henderson, F., Lepard, J., Seibly, J. et al. An online tumor board with international neurosurgical collaboration guides surgical decision-making in Western Kenya. Childs Nerv Syst 37, 715–719 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-020-04744-x
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00381-020-04744-x