The Role of Virtual Clinics in Ocular Oncology

Patients with treated uveal melanoma or suspicious choroidal naevi require a long period of follow-up to detect and treat malignant change in a timely manner. Ocular oncology patients are often managed in highly specialized services and such follow-up can create a significant burden on a service.

The availability of high-quality imaging has increased acceptability of virtual clinics in other subspecialist areas of ophthalmology. Multi-modal imaging is an important tool for monitoring choroidal lesions and review of imaging by consultant ocular oncologist has been found to be highly sensitive and specific for detecting change of choroidal lesions. Virtual clinics can improve patient access to care, reducing barriers such as time, travel and financial costs. Our experience of virtual oncology clinics in the Scottish Ocular Oncology Service (SOOS) found a high level of patient satisfaction provided results are communicated to patients in a timely manner.

There is a need for increased capacity in both triaging and monitoring of choroidal naevomelanocytic lesions and virtual clinics provide an efficacious solution to this. Change in practice is challenging, however, with increased accessibility to high-quality imaging modalities, standardized assessment protocols, and focus on patient communication the role of virtual services in ocular oncology is promising.