{
  "abstract": "BackgroundMultidisciplinary tumor boards (MTBs) are a standard part of cancer care, yet India has no national measure of how many cancer patients are discussed at one. A national survey of hospitals in the National Cancer Registry Programme (NCRP), published in 2026, gives the first structured look at board presence and functioning.\n\nObjectiveTo describe how far hospital-level tumor board presence translates into all-case review, documentation and follow-up, and to define the data needed to measure patient-level coverage.\n\nMethodsSecondary analysis of published aggregate data: the ICMR-NCDIR survey of 229 hospitals in the NCRP hospital-based cancer registry (HBCR) network (October 2024), the HBCR 2021 report, national incidence estimates (ICMR-NCDIR 2022; GLOBOCAN 2024) and two published single-center MTB audits. We calculated proportions with Wilson 95% confidence intervals, non-response bounds across all 229 hospitals, and logical bounds for joint conditions. No individual-level data were used.\n\nResultsA total of 229 hospitals were invited and 172 responded (75.1%). Among the respondents, 137 (79.7%; 59.8% to 84.7% across all hospitals) reported a functional tumor board. Only 65 respondents (37.8%; 28.4% to 53.3%) reported boards that review all cases, 71 (41.3%) had a follow-up system, 50 (29.1%) used any electronic documentation and 7 (4.1%) always took part in cross-hospital reviews. The share of hospitals with both all-case review and a follow-up system could lie anywhere from 0% to 37.8% of respondents. Boards were reported more often in private (86.6%) than in public hospitals (72.5%). Two single-center audits reported about 800 case discussions (573 new patients) and 1,260 case discussions (about 917 patients) a year, but neither reported new registrations at the same hospital, so coverage could not be calculated.\n\nConclusionsTumor board presence is common in India, but evidence of all-case review, documentation and follow-up is much thinner, and the share of patients reviewed nationally is unknown. We propose six indicators that hospital-based registries could report to measure coverage directly.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [
    "Plus91 Technology Pvt LTD"
  ],
  "article_type": "PUBLISHAHEADOFPRINT",
  "arxiv": null,
  "author_total": 4,
  "authors": [
    {
      "affs": [
        0
      ],
      "name": "V. Bodetti"
    },
    {
      "name": "N. Nihalani"
    },
    {
      "name": "R. Nivsarkar"
    },
    {
      "name": "A. Patkar"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dr6m2qvbk15d5.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.64898/2026.10.01.26364522",
  "fulltext_url": "https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.01.26364522v1.full",
  "id": "dr6m2qvbk15d5",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.01.26364522v1",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "CC-BY",
  "licence_label": "CC BY",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/",
  "metadata_licence": null,
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "medrxiv",
      "health systems and quality improvement"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3600|Interprofessional Education and Collaboration"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7220471334",
  "pdf_url": "https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.01.26364522v1.full.pdf",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-10-01",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dr6m2qvbk15d5.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:20:06Z",
      "native_id": "10.64898/2026.10.01.26364522",
      "source": "medrxiv",
      "url": "https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.10.01.26364522v1"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "medicine",
      "origin": "medrxiv:health systems and quality improvement",
      "subfield": "epidemiology-public-health"
    }
  ],
  "title": "From Tumor Board Presence to Documented Review: A Coverage Cascade for Multidisciplinary Cancer Care in India",
  "title_text": "From Tumor Board Presence to Documented Review: A Coverage Cascade for Multidisciplinary Cancer Care in India",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:20:06Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/dr6m2qvbk15d5",
  "venue": "medRxiv",
  "versions": []
}