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

Abstract

Abstract Objectives:Palliative care has been shown to be effective for patients with advanced cancer; however, the best approach to this remains undetermined. We hypothesized that a combination of palliative care via video telemedicine and usual outpatient treatment would improve patients’ quality of life (QOL)and ameliorate depression and prognosis. Methods: Patients with advanced cancer who received best supportive care were enrolled. Patients who could perform videoconferencing were assigned to the telemedicine (TMD) group and those who could not were assigned to the no telemedicine (no TMD; control) group. The primary endpoint was QOL, which was evaluated using the difference in the Functional Assessment of Cancer Therapy - General (FACT-G) scores between baseline and 1-month follow-up. Secondary endpoints included depression, measured using the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression (CES-D) scale, the Palliative Prognostic Index (PPI), overall survival (OS),and patient satisfaction. Results:Fifty patients were included in this study (25 in each group). FACT-G decreased by 0.21 and 5.96 points in the TMD and no TMD groups, respectively (p = 0.047). The TMD group maintained better QOL. CES-D increased by 0.92 and 3.50 points in the TMD and no TMD groups, respectively (p = 0.26). Median survival time (MST) was 7.82 (3.30–14.59) and 6.37 (2.33–11.04) months in the TMD and no TMD groups. Conclusion:Video telemedicine is useful in maintaining the QOL of patients with advanced cancer. It is desirable to further evaluate the effectiveness of palliative care using video telemedicine and evaluate its clinical applications.