Purpose: Telemedicine was rapidly and ubiquitously adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there are growing discussions as to its role postpandemic. Methods and Materials: We surveyed patients, radiation oncology (RO) attendings, and RO residents to assess their experience with telemedicine. Surveys addressed quality of patient care and utility of telemedicine for teaching and learning core competencies. Satisfaction was rated on a 6-point Likert-type scale. The quality of teaching and learning was graded on a 5point Likert-type scale, with overall scores calculated by the average rating of each core competency required by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (range, 1-5). Results: Responses were collected from 56 patients, 12 RO attendings, and 13 RO residents. Patient feedback was collected at 17 new-patient, 22 on-treatment, and 17 follow-up video visits. Overall, 88% of patients were satisfied with virtual visits. A lower proportion of on-treatment patients rated their virtual visit as "very satisfactory" (68.2% vs 76.5% for new patients and 82.4% for follow-ups). Only 5.9% of the new patients and none of the follow-up patients were dissatisfied, and 27% of on-treatment patients were dissatisfied. The large majority of patients (88%) indicated that they would continue to use virtual visits as long as a physical examination was not needed. Overall scores for medical training were 4.1 out of 5 (range, 2.8-5.0) by RO residents and 3.2 (range, 2.0-4.0) by RO attendings. All residents and 92% of attendings indicated they would use telemedicine again; however, most indicated that telemedicine is best for follow-up visits. Conclusions: Telemedicine is a convenient means of delivering care to patients, with some limitations demonstrated for on-treatment patients. The majority of both patients and providers are interested in using telemedicine again, and it will likely continue to supplement patient care.
Background Health determinants are known to influence the stage of breast cancer presentation, but it is unclear to what extent language affects stage. This study investigates whether non–English‐speaking (NES) patients present at a later stage than their English‐speaking (ES) counterparts and whether language is associated with mammographic screening. Methods This study was a retrospective, single‐institution cohort analysis of women undergoing breast radiotherapy from 2012 to 2017 (n = 1057). Patients were categorized as ES (n = 904) or NES (n = 153). Ordinal logistic regression analysis identified variables associated with later stage presentation, including language, race/ethnicity, and age. A subcohort analysis investigated the influence of mammographic screening on stage for NES patients. Results NES patients had greater odds of later stage disease than ES patients (odds ratio, 1.47; 95% confidence, 1.001‐2.150). This association persisted across all races/ethnicities. An additional analysis examined age categories associated with mammographic screening. For women eligible for screening (ie, those 40‐50 years old or older than 50 years), there was a significant association between language and stage. NES patients older than 50 years were twice as likely to present at an advanced stage in comparison with ES patients (16.19% vs 8.11%; P = .0082). An additional subset analysis accounted for mammograms. NES patients who did not undergo screening had a higher probability of stage III disease (40.3% of NES patients vs 12.7% of ES patients). There was no difference in stage between NES and ES patients who did undergo screening. Conclusions Language is independently associated with later stage breast cancer for NES patients, regardless of race/ethnicity. NES patients may have difficulty in accessing the health care system. Future interventions should seek to reduce language barriers for mammographic screening and diagnosis.
Pediatric radiotherapy requires optimal immobilization that often necessitates daily anesthesia. To decrease anesthesia use, we implemented a novel XXX system which projects video onto a radiolucent screen within the child's line of vision to provide attentional diversion. We investigated its reduction on anesthesia use, payer charges, and treatment time, as well as its impact on radiation delivery. Methods and Materials:A 6-year retrospective analysis was performed among children undergoing radiotherapy (n=224), 3 years before and 3 after introduction of XXX. The frequency of anesthesia use before and after XXX implementation, as well as radiotherapy treatment times were compared. The number of spared anesthesia treatments allowed for a charge to payer analysis. To document lack of surface dose perturbation by XXX, a phantom craniospinal treatment course was delivered both with and without XXX. Additionally, an ion chamber course was delivered to document changes to dose at depth.Results: More children were able to avoid anesthesia use entirely in the post-XXX cohort, compared to the pre-XXX cohort (73.2% vs 63.4%, p=0.03) and fewer required anesthesia for each treatment (18.8% vs 33%; p = 0.03). XXX introduction reduced anesthesia use for all ages studied. Treatment time per session was reduced by 38% using XXX compared to anesthesia. There were 326 fewer anesthesia sessions delivered over three years after XXX was introduced, with an estimated savings of > $500,000. OSLDs revealed a small increase in dose of 0.8%-9.5% with XXX, while the use of a thermomolded face mask increased skin dose as much as 58%. 2Conclusions: XXX introduction decreased anesthesia use in children undergoing radiotherapy; more avoided anesthesia entirely, and fewer needed it for every treatment. This resulted in a reduction in treatment time, and savings of nearly $550,000 in approximately 3 years, with minimal perturbation of radiotherapy dose delivery.
in the lower extremities, 5% to 16% in the ribs, 4% to 10% in the upper extremities, 1% to 5% in the scapulae, and 1% to 4% in the sternum & clavicles. A gradual shift of RBM towards the central skeleton occurred with aging. Compared to our measured data, the mathematical model underestimated the %RBM in the cranium & mandible and the sternum & clavicles. However, the model overestimated the %RBM in the upper extremities, the ribs, and the pelvis & vertebrae. Trends and rates of change in %RBM for these sites were consistent between our measured data and the mathematical model. Finally, although our %RBM values were similar to those of the mathematical model for the lower extremities and scapulae, the trends and rates of change differed. Conclusion: In most sub-volumes, distributions of RBM in children measured in our study slightly differed from those estimated by the most commonly accepted mathematical model. Despite the limited number of subjects for this study, we were able to validate or find inconsistencies between measured and modeled trends and rates of RBM changes with age. Further studies of high-resolution pTB-MRI should be performed for a broader spectrum of ages as high-efficiency pTB-MRI acquisition becomes manageable. These measured data will be important for aiding clinicians to consider the risk of secondary hematological malignancies in pediatric radiation therapy survivors.
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