Computerized patient-reported symptom assessment in radiotherapy: a pilot randomized, controlled trial

Area of Science:

• Oncology
• Digital Health
• Patient-Reported Outcomes

Background:

• Symptom management is crucial for patients undergoing cancer treatment.
• Computerized tools for symptom reporting exist for chemotherapy patients.
• The utility of such tools for radiotherapy patients is less understood.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and test the feasibility of a computer application for acquiring patient-reported symptom ratings during radiotherapy.
• To evaluate if symptom summaries generated by the application improve patient-physician communication and symptom management.

Main Methods:

• A randomized controlled pilot trial was conducted with 112 patients undergoing radiotherapy.
• Patients completed computerized symptom assessments; intervention group received printed summaries before visits.
• Key metrics included Global Distress Index (GDI), symptom discussion concordance, and medication adjustments.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in GDI trajectory between groups.
• The intervention group showed significantly higher rates of discussing patient-reported symptoms (23.2% vs. 10.3%, p=0.03).
• A trend towards more medication adjustments for symptom management was observed in the intervention group (20.4% vs. 15.4%, p=0.07).

Conclusions:

• The computer application is user-friendly and provides valuable patient-reported outcome data at the point of care.
• Printed symptom summaries enhanced communication during radiotherapy office visits.
• The tool shows potential for more active symptom management in radiotherapy patients, despite no change in overall symptom trajectory.