Establishment of a virtual transborder tumor board for cancer patients in Central and Southeastern Europe : an initiative of the Central European Cooperative Oncology Group (CECOG)Thallinger, Christiane (Avtor) Berzinec, Peter (Avtor) Bicakcic, Emina (Avtor) Dan, Adelina (Avtor) Fabian, Gabriella (Avtor) Gales, Laurentia Nicoletta (Avtor) Grašič-Kuhar, Cvetka (Avtor) Janžič, Urška (Avtor) Mencinger, Marina (Avtor) Zielinski, Christoph (Avtor) CECOGOsrednja in jugovzhodna Evropanadzorni imunski zaviralcimaligne boleznio establish a transborder virtual tumor board (VTB) fostering state-of-the-art management of cancer patients by exchanging knowledge and expertise among oncologists in Central and Southeastern Europe (CEE). Methods: We established and implemented a VTB based on the WebEx platform. This allowed for password-protected and secure upload of patient cases to be presented and discussed among colleagues from various oncology centers scattered throughout CEE in order to arrive at a recommendation for further diagnoses and/or treatment. Results: A total of 73 cases from 16 oncology centers located in 11 CEE countries were uploaded by 22 physicians; 71 were discussed over the course of 17 virtual meetings between June 2018 and May 2019 and 12 different kinds of malignant diseases were discussed with lung cancer (46.6%), melanoma (19.2%) and bladder cancer (13.6%) being the most commonly presented tumor entities. Of the discussed patients, 93.3% had stage IV disease at the time of presentation, 62.6% received chemotherapy or targeted treatment and 67.1% were treated with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICPIs). The most common causes for presentation and discussion of patient cases were related to the use of ICPIs (80%). Conclusion: When the need for expertise exceeds locally available resources, web-based VTBs provide a feasible way to discuss patient cases and arrive at conclusions regarding diagnoses and/or treatment across large geographic distances. Moreover, VTBs provide an innovative way for proper, state-of-the-art management of patients with malignant diseases in times of social distancing and the resulting need for restricted interaction during the current SARS-CoV‑2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2) pandemic.Springer Nature20222022-03-31 13:10:23Neznano14941sl© The Author(s)