Accepted for/Published in: JMIR mHealth and uHealth
Date Submitted: Sep 27, 2018
Date Accepted: Mar 31, 2019
Electronic patient reported Outcomes (ePROMS) in Radiation Oncology- Initial experience after workflow implementation
ABSTRACT
Background:
mobile health (mHealth) technologies are increasingly used in various medical fields. However, the potential of mHealth to improve patients care in radiotherapy by acquiring electronic patient reported outcome measures (ePROMs) during treatment has only poorly been studied so far.
Objective:
We developed and implemented a novel webAPP (“PROMetheus”) for patients undergoing radiotherapy and herein report our initial experience.
Methods:
Between January and June 2018, 21 patients used PROMetheus in order to score side effects, symptoms and quality of life related parameters during and after treatment. Items of the PRO version of the common toxicity criteria (PRO-CTCAE) were chosen based on the primary site of cancer, 27 items for head and neck, 21 for thorax and 24 for pelvis).
Results:
More than 80% of patients regularly submitted ePROMs and more than 2500 data points were acquired. An average of 5.2, 3.5 and 3.3 minutes was required to complete the head and neck, thorax and pelvis questionnaires, respectively. With ePROMS clinicians we were able to monitor aggravation of treatment side effects during therapy as well as their remission afterwards. A total of 53% of patients, mainly with head and neck and thoracic cancers, reported PRO-CTCAE grade III or IV fatigue with severe impairments of activities of daily life.
Conclusions:
Our study shows the successful implementation of an ePROM system, as well as a high patient acceptance. ePROMs have a great potential to improve patient care in radiotherapy by providing a comprehensive documentation of symptoms and side effects, especially of ones that are otherwise underreported. Furthermore they may also lead to the early detection of treatment failures.
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