Unleashing patient voices: empowering adverse event assessment with complete patient-reported outcomes

The 124-item patient reported-outcome common terminology criteria for adverse events (PRO-CTCAE) questionnaire, assessing 78 symptoms, is widely used in cancer clinical trials to identify side effects. However, its regular use in routine cancer care is rarely reported. We aimed to investigate the feasibility of weekly PRO-CTCAE completion over 9 weeks in a prospective study with 30 patients with cancer undergoing chemotherapy. Participants were asked to complete electronic surveys with reminders, but no feedback or incentives. Only 136 (50%) of the planned 270 time points at which a PRO-CTCAE self-report was expected were completed, with an additional 21 (8%) partially completed, and represents a failure to achieve the expected level of completion. Patients reported experiencing up to 51 and a median of 30 symptoms across all time points, highlighting the complexity of symptom assessment in acute cancer care. While weekly implementation of the PRO-CTCAE may not be feasible outside of clinical trial settings, this study highlights the breadth of symptoms experienced.