Feasibility of health-related quality of life (HRQoL) assessment for cancer patients using electronic patient-reported outcome (ePRO) in daily clinical practice

INTRODUCTION

Routine Electronic Monitoring of Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) (REMOQOL) in clinical care with real-time feedback to physicians could help to enhance patient-centered care. We evaluated the feasibility of REMOQOL in the French context in the QOLIBRY study. The primary objective was to assess the patients' compliance with REMOQOL.

METHODS

The QOLIBRY study was a single-center, prospective study conducted in the University Hospital of Besançon (France). Eligible patients were those treated with systemic therapies for breast, lung or colorectal cancer at any stage. Patients were invited to complete the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire and cancer-site-specific modules before each visit on tablets and/or computers in the hospital or at home. During the consultation, physicians had real-time access to visual summaries of HRQoL scores. Compliance was assessed as adequate if at least 66% of HRQoL assessments were completed during the 4 months of follow-up.

RESULTS

Between March 2016 and October 2018, 177 patients were included in the QOLIBRY study. Median age was 64 years (IQR 54-71). The proportion of patients with an adequate compliance rate was 95.5% (n = 63) in the breast cancer cohort, 98.2% (n = 55) in the colorectal cancer cohort, and 90.9% (n = 50) in the lung cancer cohort. The physicians checked the HRQoL results in 73.1% of visits and prescribed supportive care and adapted patient management in 8.3% and 5.2% of visits, respectively.

CONCLUSION & PERSPECTIVES

The results of QOLIBRY study suggest that REMOQOL is feasible in the French context. However, information about HRQoL monitoring, training of the physicians in the use of the software, and recommendations for using HRQoL results to guide care are essential and must be improved.

Health-related quality of life assessment for patients with advanced or metastatic renal cell carcinoma treated with a tyrosine kinase inhibitor using electronic patient-reported outcomes in daily clinical practice (QUANARIE trial): study protocol

BACKGROUND

Two main therapies, pazopanib and sunitinib, are used in the first-line setting for metastatic renal cell carcinoma (mRCC). These two tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) are equally effective in terms of survival; however, they frequently induce adverse events. In this setting, Health-Related Quality of life (HRQoL) is a key element in the choice between these two treatments and the evaluation of treatment effectiveness. It could be of interest to evaluate HRQoL in daily clinical practice to aid adequate therapy choice and management. Currently, the development of information and communication technology may allow HRQoL monitoring in routine practice. The objective of the QUANARIE study is to evaluate the use of HRQoL assessment in daily clinical practice for patients with mRCC treated with TKI using electronic patient-reported outcomes (e-PRO). The present article describes the key elements of the study protocol.

METHODS

The QUANARIE study is an interventional, prospective, multicentre trial. Patients diagnosed with mRCC initiating sunitinib or pazopanib treatment will be invited to complete the EORTC QLQ-C30 questionnaire, nine additional questions from the EORTC items library, and the EuroQoL EQ-5D, prior to each visit with the physician. Questionnaires will be completed by patients using tablets and/or computer terminals via the e-PRO software. The physician will have real-time access to a visual summary of the HRQoL evaluation. The primary objective is to assess the proportion of patients having good compliance with Routine Electronic Monitoring of HRQoL (REMOQOL) during the first 12 months. Physicians' satisfaction with REMOQOL will be assessed as a secondary objective. We hypothesise that 80% of patients having good compliance with REMOQOL would be meaningful. A sample size of 56 patients would be needed.

DISCUSSION

The results of this study will show whether REMOQOL is feasible on a large scale and whether patients are receptive to this new practice. This study will also determine how real-time multidimensional evaluation of patient perception can help physicians in their daily practice and how they used it in conjunction with other clinical information to manage patient care.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ClinicalTrials.gov; Identifier: NCT03062410 ; First Posted: February 23, 2017; Last Update Posted: August 9, 2017.

[Assessment of the quality of life with regard to health following a cancer diagnosis]

The measurement of the quality of life in terms of health of people undergoing treatment for cancer is developing. This new indicator focusing on patients' personal experience is combined with standard criteria relating to their tumours. The data are also a factor in the prognosis of overall survival. A team of researchers at Besançon university hospital shares its experience.

[Hyponatremia, rhabdomyolysis and encephalopathy after taking hydrochlorothiazide and drinking tea]

HISTORY AND CLINICAL FINDINGS

A 45-year-old women presented with muscular weakness, restlessness and blurred vision. She had been taking 25 mg hydrochlorothiazide daily and had ingested 7 liters of herbal tea during the day of admission. INVESTIGATIONS AND CLINICAL FINDINGS: Laboratory data showed severe hyponatremia (108 mmol/l, normal range 136 - 152), reduced potassium, glomerular filtration rate as well as plasma and urine osmolality, while the osmolality of the urine was lower than that of the plasma. Creatine kinase and myoglobin were elevated more than one hundredfold. CT scans of the brain was normal.

TREATMENT AND COURSE

The normovolemic hyponatremia had caused encephalopathy and rhabdomyolysis resulting in temporary disorder of renal function. Despite of immediately started infusion of standard sodium solution to elevate the serum sodium level slowly the encephalopathy deteriorated initially, but ultimately recovered completely.

CONCLUSION

Patients with severe hyponatremic encephalopathy require an immediate treatment, but the sodium level should not be elevated by more than 10 mmol/l per day, in order to avoid spontaneous pontine myelinolysis. Even when the hyponatremia is carefully corrected, the encephalopathy may deteriorate in the course of treatment.

[Eosinophilic gastritis after helicobacter pylori eradication]

The development of eosinophilic gastritis immediately after Helicobacter pylori eradication has not previously been described: A 62-year-old woman developed eosinophilic gastritis immediately after a triple therapy for Helicobacter pylori eradication, consisting of pantoprazole, amoxicillin and clarithromycin. She suffered from burning epigastric pain and loss of appetite. Blood eosinophilia, gastritis and eosinophilic infiltration of the gastric corpus wall were detected. The treatment with low-dose prednisolone led to remission of the blood eosinophilia, complaints, gastritis and eosinophilic infiltration. The remission persisted after the prednisolone treatment had been finished. Eosinophilic gastritis can be diagnosed only by pathohistological examination. This need for biopsy should be stressed, because the usual gastritis treatment with proton pump inhibitors fails in cases of eosinophilic gastritis. Helicobacter pylori does not seem to play a significant role in the aetiopathology of this disorder. In our case, we suggest that the eradication drug therapy actually caused the disease.

[Ten fractures in 21 years]

A 78 year old woman had suffered ten spontaneous bone fractures, the first occurring when she was 57 years old. She is now wheel-chair bound. After 21 years, the underlying osteomalacia due to oligosymptomatic celiac disease with malabsorption was diagnosed. The treatment consists of a gluten free diet and substitution of calcium and vitamin D until there is a normalisation of calcium, vitamin D and alkaline phosphatase. Any spontaneous fracture deserves a careful search for metabolic bone disease. An elevation of alkaline phosphatase indicates osteomalacia rather than osteoporosis.

[35-year old male with fever and round mass of the liver]

A 35 year old male suffered from fever till 39 degrees C and malaise since 6 months; infectious or neoplastic causes have been ruled out. Ultrasonography revealed a hypoechoic lesion of 75 mm diameter in the liver. The histologic examination of the needle biopsy showed an inflammatory process, and the final diagnosis was inflammatory pseudotumor. EBV specific LMP-1 protein was detected within the tumor immunohistochemically. A liver segment resection was performed, and the patient has been well and without fever since then for 18 months. Inflammatory pseudotumor is a rare but important differential diagnosis in cases of hypoechoic liver lesions associated by fever, if there is no abscess or malignancy. The diagnosis must be confirmed histologically, because imaging techniques cannot reliably classify the lesion.

[Interferon therapy and autoimmunity]

The treatment of viral hepatitis or malignomas with interferon (IFN) can increase the incidence of autoimmune disease. This paper reviews published case and study reports. The incidence of overt autoimmune diseases under IFN treatment is about 3%. Autoantibodies can be detected in 23% of the patients. Autoimmune thyroid diseases are the most frequent ones, but nearly all autoimmune diseases can occur. Beside benign and reversible courses chronic developments and lethal outcomes are possible. Actual concepts concerning the pathogenesis of IFN-associated autoimmunity include induction of MHC and other molecules as well as the modulation of lymphocyte functions. Clinical and paraclinical controls are necessary under treatment with IFN and during follow-up.

Induction of insulin antibodies and insulin allergy under alpha-interferon treatment of renal cell carcinoma in a patient with insulin-treated diabetes mellitus--a case report

The induction of insulin antibodies and the development of an insulin allergy were observed in a male diabetic patient treated with insulin during alpha-IFN therapy of renal cell carcinoma. Diabetes and renal cell carcinoma were diagnosed at the same time. The patient was treated with biosynthetic human insulin and nephrectomy was performed. Four months later, antineoplastic chemotherapy was started (alpha-IFN, vinblastin). Six weeks after initiation of alpha-IFN injections, the patient reported signs of insulin allergy. Significant titers of insulin antibodies of both the IgG and IgE subclasses were found in the serum at that time and during follow-up, but not before the treatment with alpha-IFN. None of the other autoantibodies investigated were positive.