HAS THE INITIATION OF A FORMAL PATHWAY FOR TUMOUR TISSUE COLLECTION IN NEURO ONCOLOGY PATIENTS LED TO AN INCREASE IN PATIENT’S HAVING WHOLE GENOME SEQUENCING (WGS), AND HOW WILL THIS IMPACT ONCOLOGY MANAGEMENT IN THE FUTURE?

Abstract

Abstract AIMS To change the standard of care for collection of glial tumour tissue at a London teaching hospital. This would enable WGS on the tumour tissue, and give patients access to further clinical trials. METHOD The previous standard of care was for brain tumour pathology samples to be stored in paraffin. This was not suitable for WGS or for many clinical trials; the tumour samples needed to be sent to the lab as fresh tissue. The introduction of a genomics clinical nurse specialist meant that relationships were built between the surgical team, pathology teams and ward teams. There was a teaching by one of the neurosurgical team to the theatre staff. Genomics CNS led training for the nursing team. Adults started having WGS in May 2023 but many patient’s still had tissue incorrectly stored and could not have the sequencing performed. There was an introduction of a formal pathway in theatre created by one of the neurosurgeons in Dec 2023. RESULTS From May 2023 - November 2023, 58% adult glioma patients had WGS. Since December 2023 - current (March 2023) and the introduction of the formal pathways, 71% had WGS. CONCLUSION A formal pathway has now changed the standard of care for collecting tissue. There is still not 100% compliance, and this remains multifactorial. However the introduction of a formal pathway has now increased the percentage of eligible patients receiving WGS. This positive outcome has now led to discussions about freezing the fresh glioma tissue to allow glioma patient’s wider access to clinical trials which they would previously not have had access to.