Teleoncology: Novel Approaches for Improving Cancer Care in North America

Abstract

Due to widespread healthcare workforce shortages, many patients living in remote and rural North America currently have reduced access to various medical specialists. These shortages, coupled with the aging North American population, highlight the need to transform contemporary healthcare delivery systems. The exchange of medical information via telecommunication technology, known as telemedicine, offers promising solutions to address the medical needs of an aging population and the increased demand for specialty medical services. This progressive movement has also improved access to quality health care by mitigating the current shortage of trained subspecialists. Minimizing the effects of these shortages is particularly urgent in the care of cancer patients, many of whom require regular follow-up and close monitoring. Cancer patients living in remote areas of North America have reduced access to specialized care and, thus, have unacceptably high mortality and morbidity rates. Teleoncology, or the use of telemedicine to provide oncology services remotely, has the ability to improve access to high-quality care and assist in alleviating the burden of some of the severe adverse events associated with cancer. In this review, the authors describe how recent advances in teleoncology can reduce healthcare disparities and improve future cancer care in North America.

Investigating Skin Cancer Diagnosis Using a Webcam-based Microcontroller System

“…In addition, these technological advances will be optimized for early diagnosis of cancers, especially melanoma, which is a potentially aggressive cancer with a high tendency for lymphatic and visceral metastasis [20]. Home diagnosis is considered the final destination of cancer diagnosis technology, and it may greatly help those living in remote areas and areas without ready access to healthcare [21]. Through detection using mobile devices, patients living in geographically remote areas can take advantage of teledermatology services or possibly even be trained to use Mobile Teledermoscopy (MTD) as an adjunct to Skin Self-Examination (SSE) [22].…”