Mitigating Toxicity by Electronic Health Portal-mediated Interactive Monitoring of Patient-reported Side Effects

Breast Cancer, eHealth, Self Management, Symptom Monitoring

Breast Cancer, remote monitoring, emonitoring, eHealth, symptom management, symptom monitoring

Chemotherapy induces side effects varying in severity, impacting patients' quality of life and necessitating unplanned hospital care. Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) could aid in early detection and management of side effects. However, existing PRO monitoring lacks triage capabilities, leading to clinician involvement and suboptimal symptom management. The investigators propose eChemoCoach, an electronic questionnaire integrated into the electronic health portal, offering real-time symptom assessment and personalized advice based on CTCAE criteria. Our study aims to assess the impact of eChemoCoach on non-hematological CTCAE ≥ 3 graded side effects in early breast cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy. This is a randomized controlled trial involving 746 patients that will evaluate the eChemoCoach's efficacy compared to standard monitoring. Phase one will validate questionnaires and assess usability, while phase two focuses on the primary outcome. Te investigators anticipate reduced severe side effects, thereby enhancing patients' quality of life, reducing stress, and minimizing hospital visits.

Problem description: The aim of (neo)adjuvant chemotherapy is to increase survival. Therefore, treatment adherence is important. However, patients may experience treatment-related side-effects. In current practice, clinicians evaluate toxicity just a few days before the next chemotherapy is scheduled. Monitoring and timely anticipation of chemotherapy related side-effects may prevent escalation of toxicity, increase treatment adherence and reduce the decline in quality of life. Evaluating toxicity more frequently and on-demand could be a solution to reduce severe toxicity. Therefore, patients should receive a direct advice when experiencing side-effects. However, without interference of a health care professional, this is not possible in standard care. Solution / research direction: There is increasing evidence that incorporating patient reported outcomes (PROs) in clinical care enhances symptom monitoring in cancer patients. Therefore, it is desirable to develop and investigate an electronic smart-phrased side-effects questionnaire which: 1) delivers a real-time personalized advice to the patient, based on CTCAE grading, after the questionnaire is completed and 2) is accessible for patients using an electronic health portal (EHP) of the electronic health record (EHR) to integrate the PRO data into the EHR. Aim / hypothesis: To investigate the effect of adding weekly EHP-mediated monitoring of chemotherapy related side-effects based on CTCAE grading using smart-phrased electronic PRO side-effects questionnaires to standard of care monitoring of side-effects, on the occurrence of CTCAE \>= grade 3 toxicity. Plan of investigation: To conduct a pilot study to validate the smart-phrased ePRO side-effects questionnaire. Thereafter, a multicenter clinical randomized trial will start where patients with breast cancer qualifying for (neo)adjuvant chemo(immune)therapy will be randomized to real-time EHP-mediated monitoring of side-effects using a novel smart-phrased ePRO side-effects questionnaire in addition to standard of care monitoring, or to standard of care monitoring solely. Primary objective is the overall rate of CTC grade \>=3 non hematological toxicity between both arms. Secondary objectives include relative dose intensity, health-related quality of life, experienced distress, the number of unplanned health care usage and costs. Expected outcome: The investigators hypothesize that adding weekly EHP-mediated monitoring of side-effects using ePRO side-effects questionnaires will significantly lower the occurrence rate of CTCAE grade \>=3 non-hematological toxicities.