Age-appropriate multidisciplinary approach to young children with cancer undergoing radiotherapy: The SIESTA...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Oncology
• Radiation Therapy Compliance
• Child Psychology in Medicine

Background:

• Radiotherapy in young children often presents compliance challenges.
• Anesthesia is sometimes required for pediatric patients undergoing radiotherapy, posing additional risks.
• A standardized approach is needed to manage difficult pediatric cases during radiation treatment.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe and apply a novel, standardized multidisciplinary approach to enhance compliance in young or difficult pediatric patients undergoing radiotherapy.
• To evaluate the effectiveness of this approach in reducing the need for anesthesia.

Main Methods:

• Implementation of the SIESTA (Show-Imagination-Evaluation-Support-Treatment-Anesthesia) protocol.
• A step-by-step, multidisciplinary strategy focusing on patient engagement and support.
• Comparative analysis of anesthesia rates before and after SIESTA adoption.

Main Results:

• The rate of young patients (≤6 years) requiring anesthesia decreased significantly.
• Anesthesia rates dropped from 27% (14/52 cases) in 2011-2012 to 13% (6/46 cases) in 2018.
• Preliminary data indicate the SIESTA approach is effective in improving pediatric radiotherapy compliance.

Conclusions:

• The SIESTA approach offers a promising strategy for improving pediatric radiotherapy compliance.
• This method effectively reduces the necessity for anesthesia in young children undergoing radiation treatment.
• Standardized, multidisciplinary interventions can enhance patient management in pediatric oncology.