Extending cBioPortal for Therapy Recommendation Documentation in Molecular Tumor Boards: Development and Usability Study

Christopher Renner; Niklas Reimer; Jan Christoph; Hauke Busch; Patrick Metzger; Melanie Boerries; Arsenij Ustjanzew; Dominik Boehm; Philipp Unberath

doi:10.2196/50017

Extending cBioPortal for Therapy Recommendation Documentation in Molecular Tumor Boards: Development and Usability Study

JMIR Med Inform. 2023 Dec 11:11:e50017. doi: 10.2196/50017.

Authors

Christopher Renner¹, Niklas Reimer^{2

3}, Jan Christoph^{1

4}, Hauke Busch^{2

3}, Patrick Metzger⁵, Melanie Boerries^{5

6}, Arsenij Ustjanzew^{7

8}, Dominik Boehm⁹, Philipp Unberath¹

Affiliations

¹ Chair of Medical Informatics, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Erlangen, Germany.
² Group for Medical Systems Biology, Lübeck Institute of Experimental, Universität zu Lübeck, Lübeck, Germany.
³ Campus Lübeck, University Cancer Center Schleswig-Holstein, University Hospital Schleswig-Holstein, Lübeck, Germany.
⁴ Junior Research Group (Bio-) Medical Data Science, Faculty of Medicine, Martin-Luther-University Halle-Wittenberg, Halle, Germany.
⁵ Institute of Medical Bioinformatics and Systems Medicine, University of Freiburg Faculty of Medicine, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany.
⁶ Partner Site Freiburg, German Cancer Consortium (DKTK), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ), Heidelberg, Germany.
⁷ Institute of Medical Biostatistics, Epidemiology and Informatics (IMBEI), University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
⁸ University Cancer Center, University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg-University Mainz, Mainz, Germany.
⁹ Medical Center for Information and Communication Technology, Universitätsklinikum Erlangen, Erlangen, Germany.

PMID: 38079196
PMCID: PMC10750236
DOI: 10.2196/50017

Abstract

Background: In molecular tumor boards (MTBs), patients with rare or advanced cancers are discussed by a multidisciplinary team of health care professionals. Software support for MTBs is lacking; in particular, tools for preparing and documenting MTB therapy recommendations need to be developed.

Objective: We aimed to implement an extension to cBioPortal to provide a tool for the documentation of therapy recommendations from MTB sessions in a secure and standardized manner. The developed extension should be embedded in the patient view of cBioPortal to enable easy documentation during MTB sessions. The resulting architecture for storing therapy recommendations should be integrable into various hospital information systems.

Methods: On the basis of a requirements analysis and technology analysis for authentication techniques, a prototype was developed and iteratively refined through a user-centered development process. In conclusion, the tool was evaluated via a usability evaluation, including interviews, structured questionnaires, and the System Usability Scale.

Results: The patient view of cBioPortal was extended with a new tab that enables users to document MTB sessions and therapy recommendations. The role-based access control was expanded to allow for a finer distinction among the rights to view, edit, and delete data. The usability evaluation showed overall good usability and a System Usability Scale score of 83.57.

Conclusions: This study demonstrates how cBioPortal can be extended to not only visualize MTB patient data but also be used as a documentation platform for therapy recommendations.

Keywords: cBioPortal; cancer; development; documentation platform; genomics; health information interoperability; implementation; molecular tumor board; platform; precision; precision medicine; tool; tumor; usability evaluation; use; user-centered.

©Christopher Renner, Niklas Reimer, Jan Christoph, Hauke Busch, Patrick Metzger, Melanie Boerries, Arsenij Ustjanzew, Dominik Boehm, Philipp Unberath. Originally published in JMIR Medical Informatics (https://medinform.jmir.org), 11.12.2023.