Perioperative Telemonitoring Yields “Encouraging” Results in GI Cancers

The use of perioperative telemonitoring and nursing triage may have a positive impact on the recovery of patients who undergo gastrointestinal (GI) oncologic surgery, according to Kelly M. Mahuron, MD.

Mahuron, a complex general surgical oncology fellow in the Department of Surgical Oncology at City of Hope National Medical Center in Duarte, California, spoke with CancerNetwork^® during the 2024 Society of Surgical Oncology Annual Meeting (SSO) about findings from a prospective randomized trial assessing whether telemonitoring in combination with nursing triage intervention affected surgical outcomes and recovery in patients with GI cancers.

According to Mahuron, the use of perioperative telemonitoring correlated with improvements in quality of life following surgery. Additionally, she discussed how the telemonitoring tool may be feasible to use in combination with nursing support among patients in a community setting.

Transcript:

As reflected in our high rates of retention and our low attrition rate, perioperative telemonitoring was found to be very feasible and accessible to patients. Looking at the efficacy data, we did not find a difference in study arms in complications or readmissions. But we did find a difference in patient-reported outcomes involving quality of life. We used The MD Anderson Symptom Inventory, which is a well-established and validated patient-reported outcome measurement tool, to look at the severity of patient symptoms as well as interference of their symptoms upon their activity levels.

Compared with the control arm, the telemonitoring intervention arm reported significantly lower symptom severity scores at postoperative days 14 and 30, and [patients in the telemonitoring arm] also had lower activity interference scores at postoperative days 7, 14, and 30. These findings suggest that telemonitoring with nursing triage may have a positive impact on their recovery.

This was done at a single institution, and [City of Hope is] more of an academic setting. But in the community, there are a lot of patients who have varying levels of resources at home. Perioperative telemonitoring with nursing support may be a very feasible means to help bridge the gap and give additional recovery support to these patients.

In addition to determining the optimal timing and duration of telemonitoring, we’re actively working to determine which subsets of patients might benefit the most. The study has produced really encouraging results, and we’re grateful for all the hard work of the team and to all the patients who agreed to participate.

Reference

Mauhron KM, Esslin P, Sun V, et al. Randomized controlled trial - perioperative telemonitoring of patient generated health data in gastrointestinal oncologic surgery: assessing outcomes. Presented at: Society of Surgical Oncology (SSO) 2024 Annual Meeting; March 20-23, 2024; Atlanta, GA. Abstract P55.