The ESMO-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) visualisation: picturing the evidence of clinical benefit of clinical trial data

Abstract

Background

Choosing the right cancer treatment is crucial for patients and health care professionals, while health care systems must allocate resources efficiently. The European Society for Medical Oncology-Magnitude of Clinical Benefit Scale (ESMO-MCBS) assists decision making by assessing the clinical benefit of anticancer medications. ESMO developed and field-tested a visualisation of the ESMO-MCBS scores to increase its user-friendliness and effectiveness.

Methods

An expert panel iteratively designed and internally reviewed a prototype of the visualisation, then refined it through field-testing. A survey was conducted concurrently with the field-testing to evaluate the understandability of the visualisation. Field-testing materials and survey questions were made accessible to the public on the ESMO website and promoted at the ESMO Congress 2019 through ESMO social media platforms. The insights gathered from all the feedback were instrumental in refining the design. Subsequently, a conclusive survey was deployed during the ESMO Congress 2023 to assess the final version of the visualisation.

Results

A two-panel visualisation was developed to reflect the steps of the ESMO-MCBS scoring procedure. Field-testing included visualisations for 121 studies, each based on their ESMO-MCBS scores. Feedback from the survey (n = 56 experts) indicated that oncology-related professions and statisticians, as well as respondents with previous knowledge of the ESMO-MCBS, showed a sufficient understanding of the visualisations while indicating areas to improve. Incorporating the survey’s feedback, the revised visualisations were then integrated into the publicly available ESMO-MCBS Scorecards, and a final survey (n = 118 experts) was conducted to evaluate these revisions. More than 80% of the respondents reported the visualisation to be accessible and effective at communicating the score.

Conclusions

The visualisations offer a visual understanding of the ESMO-MCBS scores by enhancing user-friendliness and understandability.