The impact of palliative care via video telemedicine: A prospective study

Abstract

Purpose: Palliative care should be provided for terminal cancer patients, but the remaining question is how oncologists are providing palliative care. Herein, we evaluated the effectiveness of palliative care provided via video telemedicine. Methods: Terminal cancer patients receiving the best supportive care were enrolled and divided into two groups: telemedicine and no telemedicine. The primary endpoint was quality of life (QOL), which was evaluated using the difference in the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy–General (FACT-G) scores between baseline and at the 1-month follow-up. Secondary endpoints included depression measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies depression (CES-D) scale, overall survival (OS), and patient satisfaction. Results: Overall, 50 patients were included in this study,with 25 patients in each group. FACT-G decreased by 0.30 vs 5.90 points in the telemedicine and no telemedicine groups, respectively. Although there was no significant difference (P = 0.088), the telemedicine group tended to maintain better QOL. CES-D increased by 0.96 vs 3.52 points in the telemedicine and no telemedicine groups, respectively. Depressive tendency was lower in the telemedicine group; however, there was no significant difference (P = 0.27). Median survival time (MST) was 7.82 (3.30 – 14.59) vs 6.37 (2.33 – 11.04) months in the telemedicine and no telemedicine groups, respectively, and the HR was 0.67 (95%CI 0.33 – 1.34, P = 0.25). Conclusion: There was a trend toward improved QOL in patients receiving video telemedicine. It is desirable to further evaluate the effectiveness of palliative care with telemedicine and link it to clinical applications.