Anzeige
Erschienen in:
30.03.2016 | Original Article
Feasibility of an interactive electronic self-report tool for oral cancer therapy in an outpatient setting
Erschienen in: Supportive Care in Cancer | Ausgabe 8/2016
Einloggen, um Zugang zu erhaltenAbstract
Background
The introduction of oral anti-cancer agents provides a convenient administration route for chronic cancer treatment to outpatients. Health information technology through web-based applications or other electronic tools can offer a platform to improve treatment compliance, symptom management, and patient-provider communication.
Purpose
The purposes of this study were to test the feasibility and clinical utility of an electronic self-report device (RemeCoach) for patients or their caregivers and to register and prospectively evaluate the quality of data generated.
Patients and methods
Patients using Teysuno® (S-1) for advanced gastrointestinal carcinoma used a pre-programmed device in order to register compliance to treatment and six clinical parameters. Real-time data were collected onto a central platform, which processed the data by an algorithm. This algorithm stratified the data into different grades based on the Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE v4.0).
Results
From December 2013 to March 2014, 11 patients (5 men, 6 women) were enrolled. Compliance to the device was high, six patients (55 %) registered timely intake of medication (demonstrating >95 % treatment compliance). Agreement between patients’ and clinicians’ reported toxicity was substantial for nausea, but discrepant for fatigue, hand-foot syndrome, and mucositis.
Conclusion
The use of an interactive self-report tool is feasible, reliable, and acceptable to outpatients. The RemeCoach and the algorithm devised will be further developed as an interactive patient-reported outcome (PRO) system, to improve early detection of side effects in an outpatient setting. Further studies are needed to confirm these data and to explore the relationship between optimal patient support and efficacy of treatment.