O odontólogo frente aos cuidados paliativos na oncologia / The dental surgeon facing palliative care in oncology: a literature review / El odontólogo ante los cuidados paliativos en oncología

Cuidados paliativos são um conjunto de procedimentos ofertados ao paciente por uma equipe multidisciplinar com objetivo de garantir bem-estar, autonomia,conforto e alívio de sintomas decorrentes de doença ou tratamento quando a cura é impossibilitada. O câncer representa uma das doenças que possuem chances de evoluir o paciente ao estágio terminal, momento em que cuidados paliativos são indicados e necessários. Dentro da equipe responsável, o cirurgião-dentista atua na prevenção, diagnóstico e tratamento de lesões expressas no sistema estomatognático que se manifestam estimuladas pelo câncer ou pelos tratamentos utilizados. O objetivo desta pesquisa é destacar a função do odontólogo dentro da equipe multidisciplinar paliativista para pacientes oncológicos. Trata-se de uma revisão bibliográfica sistemáticada literatura. Foram feitas buscas nas plataformas Biblioteca Virtual em Saúde (BVS) e Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) e após aplicação dos critérios de inclusão e exclusão foram selecionados 14 artigos. A literatura evidencia que alterações orais estão relacionadas com o curso da neoplasia ou seu tratamento; as lesões mais descritas foram: mucosite, xerostomia, candidíase, cárie, periodontite e osteorradionecrose. Isso faz com que o paciente sofra limitações em realizar atividades básicas, alterando negativamente a sua qualidade de vida. A complexidade da manifestação oral pode interromper o tratamento antineoplásico. As medidas de enfrentamento mais empregadas para a saúde bucal do paciente oncológico são a laserterapia, bochechos com clorexidina 0,12%, instrução de higiene oral, uso de anti-inflamatórios, analgésicos e antifúngicos. A atuação do odontólogo na equipe multidisciplinar oncológica paliativista é indispensável para o controle das manifestações orais.

Palliative care comprises a set of procedures offered by a multidisciplinary team to patients who cannot be cured, aiming to restore and ensure well-being, autonomy, independence, comfort and relief from symptoms resulting from illness or treatments. Cancer commonly leads the patient to the terminal stage, and at this stage palliative care is indicated and necessary. Composing the multidisciplinary team, the dentist works in the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of injuries that arise in the stomatognathic system, which manifest themselves due to cancer or its treatments. The objective of this research was to highlight the work of the dentist in the multidisciplinary team of palliative care for cancer patients. This is a systematic bibliographic review of the literature, with an integrative character. Study searches were performed in the Virtual Health Library (VHL) and Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO). After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 14 articles were selected. Results showed that oral alterations are completely related to the development of the neoplasm or its treatment; the most described lesions were: mucositis, xerostomia, candidiasis, osteoradionecrosis, radiation caries and periodontitis. These injuries make the patient suffer limitations to perform basic activities, such as eating or communicating, negatively altering their quality of life. The complexity of the oral manifestation can determine the interruption of the anticancer treatment. The most used coping measures for the oral healthof cancer patients are: low- potency laser therapy, mouthwash with 0.12% chlorhexidine, instructionin oral hygiene and use of anti-inflammatory, analgesic and antifungal drugs. The role of dentists in the multidisciplinary palliative oncology team is essential for the control of oral lesions.

Los cuidados paliativos son un conjunto de procedimientos ofrecidos al paciente por un equipo multidisciplinar con el objetivo de garantizar el bienestar, la autonomía, el confort y el alivio de los síntomas derivados de la enfermedad o del tratamiento cuando la curación es imposible. El cáncer representa una de las enfermedades que tienen posibilidades de evolucionar al paciente hasta la fase terminal, momento en el que los cuidados paliativos son indicados y necesarios. Dentro del equipo responsable, el cirujano dentista actúa en la prevención, diagnóstico y tratamiento de las lesiones expresadas en el sistema estomatognático que se manifiestan estimuladas por el cáncer o por los tratamientos utilizados. El objetivo de esta investigación es destacar la función del odontólogo dentro del equipo paliativo multidisciplinar para pacientes oncológicos. Se trata de una revisión bibliográfica sistemática. Se realizaron búsquedas en las plataformas Virtual Health Library (BVS) y Scientific Electronic Library Online (SciELO) y tras aplicar los criterios de inclusión y exclusión, se seleccionaron 14 artículos. La literatura muestra que las alteraciones orales están relacionadas con el curso del cáncer o su tratamiento; las lesiones más comúnmente descritas fueron: mucositis, xerostomía, candidiasis, caries, periodontitis y osteorradionecrosis. Esto hace que el paciente sufra limitaciones para realizar actividades básicas, alterando negativamente su calidad de vida. La complejidad de la manifestación oral puede interrumpir el tratamiento antineoplásico. Las medidas de afrontamiento más utilizadas para la salud bucodental de los pacientes con cáncer son la terapia láser, los enjuagues bucales con clorhexidina al 0,12%, las instrucciones de higiene bucodental y el uso de fármacos antiinflamatorios, analgésicos y antifúngicos. La actuación del odontólogo en el equipo multidisciplinar de oncología paliativa es fundamental para el control de las manifestaciones orales.

Molecular Imaging of Angiogenesis in Oncology: Current Preclinical and Clinical Status.

Angiogenesis is an active process, regulating new vessel growth, and is crucial for the survival and growth of tumours next to other complex factors in the tumour microenvironment. We present possible molecular imaging approaches for tumour vascularisation and vitality, focusing on radiopharmaceuticals (tracers). Molecular imaging in general has become an integrated part of cancer therapy, by bringing relevant insights on tumour angiogenic status. After a structured PubMed search, the resulting publication list was screened for oncology related publications in animals and humans, disregarding any cardiovascular findings. The tracers identified can be subdivided into direct targeting of angiogenesis (i.e., vascular endothelial growth factor, laminin, and fibronectin) and indirect targeting (i.e., glucose metabolism, hypoxia, and matrix metallo-proteases, PSMA). Presenting pre-clinical and clinical data of most tracers proposed in the literature, the indirect targeting agents are not 1:1 correlated with angiogenesis factors but do have a strong prognostic power in a clinical setting, while direct targeting agents show most potential and specificity for assessing tumour vascularisation and vitality. Within the direct agents, the combination of multiple targeting tracers into one agent (multimers) seems most promising. This review demonstrates the present clinical applicability of indirect agents, but also the need for more extensive research in the field of direct targeting of angiogenesis in oncology. Although there is currently no direct tracer that can be singled out, the RGD tracer family seems to show the highest potential therefore we expect one of them to enter the clinical routine.

Bronchoscopy during the COVID-19 pandemic: effect on current practices and strategies to reduce procedure-associated transmission.

Introduction: Bronchoscopy and related procedures have unambiguously been affected during the Corona Virus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-Corona Virus-2 (SARS COV-2). Ordinary bronchoscopy practices and lung cancer services might have changed over this pandemic and for the years to come.Areas covered: This manuscript summarizes the utility of bronchoscopy in COVID-19 patients, and the impact of the pandemic in lung cancer diagnostic services, in view of possible viral spread during these We conducted a literature review of articles published in PubMed/Medline from inception to November 5th, 2020 using relevant terms.Expert opinion: Without doubt this pandemic has changed the way bronchoscopy and related procedures are being performed. Mandatory universal personal protective equipment, pre-bronchoscopy PCR tests, dedicated protective barriers and disposable bronchoscopes might be the safest and simpler way to perform even the most complicated procedures.

Current cancer driver variant predictors learn to recognize driver genes instead of functional variants.

BACKGROUND: Identifying variants that drive tumor progression (driver variants) and distinguishing these from variants that are a byproduct of the uncontrolled cell growth in cancer (passenger variants) is a crucial step for understanding tumorigenesis and precision oncology. Various bioinformatics methods have attempted to solve this complex task. RESULTS: In this study, we investigate the assumptions on which these methods are based, showing that the different definitions of driver and passenger variants influence the difficulty of the prediction task. More importantly, we prove that the data sets have a construction bias which prevents the machine learning (ML) methods to actually learn variant-level functional effects, despite their excellent performance. This effect results from the fact that in these data sets, the driver variants map to a few driver genes, while the passenger variants spread across thousands of genes, and thus just learning to recognize driver genes provides almost perfect predictions. CONCLUSIONS: To mitigate this issue, we propose a novel data set that minimizes this bias by ensuring that all genes covered by the data contain both driver and passenger variants. As a result, we show that the tested predictors experience a significant drop in performance, which should not be considered as poorer modeling, but rather as correcting unwarranted optimism. Finally, we propose a weighting procedure to completely eliminate the gene effects on such predictions, thus precisely evaluating the ability of predictors to model the functional effects of single variants, and we show that indeed this task is still open.

A comprehensive validation of the novel 8th edition of American Joint Committee on Cancer staging manual for the long-term survivals of patients with non-functional pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms.

Histologically, the World Health Organization has classified pancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms (p-NENs) into well-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (G1/G2 p-NETs) and poorly-differentiated pancreatic neuroendocrine carcinoma (G3 p-NECs) based on tumor mitotic counts and Ki-67 index. Recently, the 8th edition of American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) staging manual has incorporated some major changes in 2017 that the TNM staging system for p-NENs should only be applied to well-differentiated G1/G2 p-NETs, while poorly-differentiated G3 p-NECs be classified according to the new system for pancreatic exocrine adenocarcinomas. However, this new manual for p-NENs has seldom been evaluated.Data of patients with both G1/G2 and G3 non-functional p-NENs (NF-p-NENs) from our institution was retrospectively collected and analyzed using 2 new AJCC 8th staging systems. We also made survival comparisons between the 8th and 7th edition system separately for different subgroups.For G1/G2 NF-p-NETs, there were 52 patients classified in AJCC 8th edition stage I, 40 in stage II, 41 in stage III and 19 in stage IV. As for G3 NF-p-NECs, 17, 19, 24, and 18 patients were respectively defined from AJCC 8th edition stage I to stage IV. In terms of the AJCC 7th staging system, the 230 patients with NF-p-NENs were totally distributed from stage I to stage IV (94, 63, 36, 37, respectively). For the survival analysis of both G1/G2 NF-p-NETs and G3 NF-p-NECs, the AJCC 7th edition system failed to discriminate the survival differences when compared stage III with stage II or stage IV (P > .05), while the 8th edition ones could perfectly allocate patients into 4 statistically different groups (P < .05). The HCIs of AJCC 8th stage for G1/G2 NF-p-NETs [HCI=0.658, 95% confidence interval (CI)=0.602-0.741] and stage for G3 NF-p-NECs (HCI=0.704, 95% CI=0.595-0.813) was both statistically larger than those of AJCC 7th stage for different grading NF-p-NENs [(HCI=0.578, 95% CI=0.557-0.649; P=.031), (HCI=0.546, 95% CI=0.531-0.636; P = .019); respectively], indicating a more accurate predictive ability for the survivals of NF-p-NENs.Our data suggested the 2 new AJCC 8th staging systems were superior to its 7th edition for patients with both G1/G2 NF-p-NETs and G3 NF-p-NECs.

Nothing to lose: a grounded theory study of patients' and healthcare professionals' perspectives of being involved in the consent process for oncology trials with non-curative intent.

BACKGROUND: Clinical cancer research trials may offer little or no direct clinical benefit to participants where a cure is no longer possible. As such, the decision-making and consent process for patient participation is often challenging. AIM: To gain understanding of how patients make decisions regarding clinical trial participation, from the perspective of both the patient and healthcare professionals involved. METHODS: In-depth, face to face interviews using a grounded theory approach. This study was conducted in a regional Cancer Centre in the United Kingdom. Of the 36 interviews, 16 were conducted with patients with cancer that had non-curative intent and 18 with healthcare professionals involved in the consent process. RESULTS: 'Nothing to lose' was identified as the core category that underpinned all other data within the study. This highlighted the desperation articulated by participants, who asserted trial participation was the 'only hope in the room'. The decision regarding participation was taken within a 'trusting relationship' that was important to both patients and professionals. Both were united in their 'fight against cancer'. These two categories are critical in understanding the decision-making/consent process and are supported by other themes presented in the theoretical model. CONCLUSION: This study presents an important insight into the complex and ethically contentious situation of consent in clinical trials that have non-curative intent. It confirms that patients with limited options trust their doctor and frequently hold unrealistic hopes for personal benefit. It highlights a need for further research to develop a more robust and context appropriate consent process.

Designing a commercial medical bundle for cancer care: Hawaii Medical Service Association's Cancer Episode Model.

BACKGROUND: Oncology care is expensive and exhibits substantial variation in cost and quality across clinicians and patients. Unlike many conditions with established bundled payment programs, cancer care includes a mix of inpatient and outpatient care that precludes hospital-based designs. In 2018, we worked with Hawaii Medical Service Association (HMSA), the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Hawaii, to design a novel commercial bundle for cancer care, the Cancer Episode Model. METHODS: Descriptive analysis of HMSA's Cancer Episode Model, including its inclusion criteria, episode definitions, suite of enhanced services, shared savings model, and incentivized quality metrics. We also compare HMSA's Cancer Episode Model to Medicare's Oncology Care Model and three major commercial oncologic alternative payment models offered by Anthem, UnitedHealthcare, and Aetna. RESULTS: HMSA's Cancer Episode Model builds upon the successes and limitations of Medicare's Oncology Care Model and existing commercial alternative payment models. Compared to Medicare's Oncology Care Model, HMSA's Cancer Episode Model has stricter inclusion criteria, fewer incentivized quality metrics, a higher proportion of regional pricing, a different risk-adjustment model, and first-dollar shared savings. Compared to the majority of existing commercial models, HMSA's Cancer Episode Model includes total cost of care and a different risk-adjustment model. CONCLUSIONS: Reviewing features of the Cancer Episode Model in comparison to other programs is intended to provide guidance to health plans and health policymakers in the design of programs and policies aimed at improving cancer care value. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level IV.

Drug Selection for Formulary Inclusion: An Exploratory Case Study of Oncology Medicines in Jordan.

BACKGROUND: Access to healthcare services including innovative treatments is one of the most important objectives of healthcare system in Jordan. This research summarized one of the actual practices pertaining to health priority setting in Jordan with official requirement to use cost-effectiveness analysis. OBJECTIVES: To address the role of economic evidence to inform the decisions and rationales drawn by health policy experts to optimize resources mobilization for new cancer drugs. METHOD: The research reported a case study of formulary setting priority in Jordan. Documentary collation and analysis of a secondary source (meeting minutes) produced by decision committee were conducted by the research team. The decisions and rationales shaped by panelists for 22 newly registered oncology drugs at Jordan Food and Drug Administration were reviewed and described. RESULTS: It was found that the absence of official health economic guidelines in the country and informal use of cost-effectiveness analysis by the panelists appeared to flaw the importance of incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER). Nevertheless, "the lower the ICER, the better the drug" was the primary factor in all committee's decisions to inform resources mobilization. Despite of the latter, 7 drugs were selected for formulary inclusion for different oncology disease areas in Jordan. CONCLUSIONS: Priority setting for new cancer drugs is not well-informed in Jordan. Nevertheless, this research revealed different disadvantages that appear to militate against the perspective of the study. Recommendations for implementation and enhancement of health economic evaluation include further investment in capacity building (eg, prepare qualified health economists) and create incentive to improve availability and accessibility of local data.

Impact of Obesity on Surgeon Ergonomics in Robotic and Straight-Stick Laparoscopic Surgery.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Work-related musculoskeletal symptoms (WMSs) are reported to be increasing in surgeons performing minimally invasive procedures. Therefore, we investigated the use of inertial measurement units (IMUs) and electromyography (EMG) sensor recorders to record real-time information on the muscle movement/activity required to perform training exercises in simulated in normal and high body mass index (BMI) models. DESIGN: Prospective study. SETTING: University hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Four consultant gynecologic oncology surgeons experienced in complex straight-stick (SS) laparoscopic and robotically assisted (RA) surgery. INTERVENTIONS: Three exercises (hoops onto pegs and wire chase) using SS and RA surgery on 2 abdominal models: normal BMI and high BMI. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: We measured time to complete exercise and surgeon muscle movement/activity. The time to complete all exercises was significantly lower for RA surgery as compared with SS laparoscopy (p <.05 or better). The movement of the surgeons' core was significantly greater in high BMI SS laparoscopy compared with normal BMI SS laparoscopy for exercises 1 and 2 (p <.001). Muscle usage, as determined by EMG peak, was significantly higher in normal BMI SS laparoscopy and even higher in high BMI SS laparoscopy but was generally flat for all normal and high BMI RA surgery exercises (p <.05 or better). CONCLUSION: Detailed real-time information can be collected through IMUs/EMG sensors. Our results indicate that RA surgery requires less surgeon movements and muscle activity to complete tasks compared with SS laparoscopy, particularly in a high BMI model. The implications of these results are that RA surgery in high BMI patients may therefore have less physical impact on the surgeon compared with SS laparoscopy and may result in lower WMS rates.

Brief emotional screening in oncology: Specificity and sensitivity of the emotion thermometers in the Portuguese cancer population.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine the cutoff and the specificity and sensitivity of the Emotion Thermometers (ET) in a Portuguese sample of cancer patients. METHOD: A total of 147 patients (mean age = 49.2; SD = 12.6) completed the ET, the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI), and the Subjective Experiences of Illness Suffering Inventory. Data were collected in a cancer support institution and in a major hospital in the North of Portugal. RESULT: The optimal cutoff for the Anxiety Thermometer was 5v6 (until 5 and 6 or more), which identified 74% of the BSI-anxiety cases and 70% of noncases. The Depression Thermometer cutoff was 4v5 (until 4 and 5 or more), which identified 85% of BSI-depression cases and 82% of noncases. Cutoff for the Anger Thermometer was 4v5 (until 4 and 5 or more), which identified 83% of BSI-hostility cases and 73% of noncases; for the Distress Thermometer, the optimal cutoff was 4v5 (until 4 and 5 or more), which identified 84% of the suffering cases and 73% of noncases. Finally, for the Help Thermometer, it was 3v4 (until 3 and 4 or more), which helped to identify 93% of the suffering cases and 64% of noncases. SIGNIFICANCE OF RESULTS: Results supported the Portuguese version of the ET as an important screening tool for identifying the emotional distress in cancer patients.

Viability of mobile applications for remote support of radiotherapy patients.

BACKGROUND: Technological advances of the 21st century have provided greater communication, regardless of socioeconomic class and age group. Actions to promote the development of health applications are emerging around the world. OBJECTIVE: To provide a perspective on the viability and usability of mobile applications dedicated to radiotherapy patients for remote support to health professionals proposing solutions to encourage Brasil in the development of these digital tools. METHODS: Cross-sectional exploratory study by systematic review and literature review. We searched the PubMed, BVS, IBGE, and WHO databases, from 2014 to 2018. RESULTS: 6 articles were found with topics related to the use of mobile applications in the health area, two of which were published in Portuguese and four in the English, on oncology, from 2014 to 2018. CONCLUSIONS: We did not find an expressive number of works on this subject in Brasil. Mobile applications have the potential to assist in the remote support of radiotherapy patients. The latest studies suggest the need for a regulation of data protection protocols to be deployed.

Is Watson for Oncology per se Unreasonably Dangerous?: Making A Case for How to Prove Products Liability Based on a Flawed Artificial Intelligence Design.

Artificial intelligence (AI) machines hold the world's curiosity captive. Futuristic television shows like West World are set in desert lands against pink sunsets where sleek, autonomous AI fulfill every human need, desire, and kink. But I, Robot, a movie where robots turn against the humans they serve, reminds us that AI is precarious. Academicians who study how AI interacts with tort law, such as Jessica Allain, David Vladeck, and Sjur Dyrkoltbotn, claim that the current legal regime is incapable of addressing the liability issues AI present. Both Allain and Vladeck focus their research on whether tort law can accommodate claims against fully autonomous AI machines, while Dyrkoltbotn explores how AI can be leveraged to help plaintiffs identify the genesis of their injuries. The solution this article presents is not exclusively tailored to fully autonomous AI and does not identify how technology can be used in tort claims. It instead demonstrates that the current tort law regime can provide relief to plaintiffs who are injured by AI machines. In particular, this article argues that the manner in which Watson for Oncology is designed presents a new context in which courts should adopt a per se rule of liability that favors plaintiffs who bring damage claims against AI machines by expanding the definition of what it means for a device to be unreasonably dangerous.

Viability of mobile applications for remote support of radiotherapy patients

SUMMARY BACKGROUND Technological advances of the 21st century have provided greater communication, regardless of socioeconomic class and age group. Actions to promote the development of health applications are emerging around the world. OBJECTIVE To provide a perspective on the viability and usability of mobile applications dedicated to radiotherapy patients for remote support to health professionals proposing solutions to encourage Brasil in the development of these digital tools. METHODS Cross-sectional exploratory study by systematic review and literature review. We searched the PubMed, BVS, IBGE, and WHO databases, from 2014 to 2018. RESULTS 6 articles were found with topics related to the use of mobile applications in the health area, two of which were published in Portuguese and four in the English, on oncology, from 2014 to 2018. CONCLUSIONS We did not find an expressive number of works on this subject in Brasil. Mobile applications have the potential to assist in the remote support of radiotherapy patients. The latest studies suggest the need for a regulation of data protection protocols to be deployed.

RESUMO INTRODUÇÃO O avanço tecnológico no século XXI tem proporcionado maior comunicação entre todos, independentemente da classe socioeconômica e da faixa etária. Ações de fomento ao desenvolvimento de aplicativos para a área da saúde estão surgindo ao redor do mundo. OBJETIVO Oferecer uma perspectiva sobre a viabilidade e usabilidade dos aplicativos móveis dedicados aos pacientes radioterápicos para suporte remoto aos profissionais da saúde propondo soluções a fim de incentivar, no Brasil, o desenvolvimento dessas ferramentas digitais. MÉTODOS Estudo transversal de caráter exploratório por revisão sistemática e análise da literatura. Foram utilizadas buscas nas bases de dados: PubMed, BVS, IBGE, OMS, por publicações citadas de 2014 a 2018. RESULTADOS Foram encontrados cinco artigos com temas relacionados ao uso de aplicativos móveis na área da saúde, sendo dois nacionais, publicados em língua portuguesa, e três internacionais, no idioma inglês, dos quais esses últimos aplicados à oncologia no período de 2014 a 2018. CONCLUSÕES Não foi encontrado um número expressivo de trabalhos com este tema no Brasil. Aplicativos móveis têm potencial para ajudar no suporte remoto de pacientes radioterápicos. Os últimos estudos sugerem a necessidade de uma regulamentação de protocolos de proteção de dados transmitidos a ser implantada.

Health technology assessment (HTA) of optoelectronic biosensors for oncology by analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and Likert scale.

BACKGROUND: The multicriteria decision method (MCDM) aims to find conflicts among alternatives by comparing and evaluating them according to various criteria to reach the best compromise solution. The evaluation of a new health technology is extremely important in the health sciences field. The aim of this work is to evaluate a new health technology to assay thyroglobulin in patients with differentiated thyroid cancer to improve its service from an organizational point of view, by planning new and appropriate training activities, ensuring proper use of resources and satisfying the needs of different users. METHODS: The evaluation was performed using two methodologies: the analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and the Likert scale. The AHP is a multicriteria decision approach that assigns a weight to each evaluation criterion according to the decision maker's pairwise comparisons of the criteria. The Likert scale is a psychometric scale employed to study the degree of user satisfaction by measuring opinions. RESULTS: Results show the need of particularly improving clinical efficiency, effectiveness, and return on sales (ROS) related to the technology; technological safety, human resources and other parameters do not need to be improved because of the high satisfaction results of the users. CONCLUSIONS: The application of both methods provided the necessary information to improve the quality of the service, allowing the decision maker to identify the most valuable service features and to improve these to ensure user satisfaction and to identify possible service improvements.

Clinicians' Role in the Adoption of an Oncology Decision Support App in Europe and Its Implications for Organizational Practices: Qualitative Case Study.

BACKGROUND: Despite the existence of adequate technological infrastructure and clearer policies, there are situations where users, mainly physicians, resist mobile health (mHealth) solutions. This is of particular concern, bearing in mind that several studies, both in developed and developing countries, showed that clinicians' adoption is the most influential factor in such solutions' success. OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to focus on understanding clinicians' roles in the adoption of an oncology decision support app, the factors impacting this adoption, and its implications for organizational and social practices. METHODS: A qualitative case study of a decision support app in oncology, called ONCOassist, was conducted. The data were collected through 17 in-depth interviews with clinicians and nurses in the United Kingdom, Ireland, France, Italy, Spain, and Portugal. RESULTS: This case demonstrates the affordances and constraints of mHealth technology at the workplace, its implications for the organization of work, and clinicians' role in its constant development and adoption. The research findings confirmed that factors such as app operation and stability, ease of use, usefulness, cost, and portability play a major role in the adoption decision; however, other social factors such as endorsement, neutrality of the content, attitude toward technology, existing workload, and internal organizational politics are also reported as key determinants of clinicians' adoption. Interoperability and cultural views of mobile usage at work are the key workflow disadvantages, whereas higher efficiency and performance, sharpened practice, and location flexibility are the main workflow advantages. CONCLUSIONS: Several organizational implications emerged, suggesting the need for some actions such as fostering a work culture that embraces new technologies and the creation of new digital roles for clinicians both on the hospitals or clinics and on the development sides but also more collaboration between health care organizations and digital health providers to enable electronic medical record integration and solving of any interoperability issues. From a theoretical perspective, we also suggest the addition of a fourth step to Leonardi's methodological guidance that accounts for user engagement; embedding the users in the continuous design and development processes ensures the understanding of user-specific affordances that can then be made more obvious to other users and increase the potential of such tools to go beyond their technological features and have a higher impact on workflow and the organizing process.

Structuring times and activities in the oncology visit.

In this paper we examine how doctor and patient coordinate actions in interaction towards the smooth accomplishment of the medical visit. Such coordination entails primarily the management of time and praxis, i.e. the apportionment of time to the tasks to be completed during the visit; and it is not an easy enterprise, for a number of reasons: 1) the tasks to be carried out during the visit are not familiar in equal measure to doctor and patient; 2) the extent of attention to be devoted to each task cannot be fully determined in advance but requires ongoing judgment and calibration; 3) generally, the timeframe of the visit is relatively limited. Our ethnographic and conversation analytic study of oncological visits shows that doctor and patient rely on a range of semiotic resources to achieve mutual understanding and coordinated actions. In particular, our analysis has identified textual artifacts and metapragmatic utterances as key semiotic components in the coordination and negotiation of the temporal trajectories and courses of actions that constitute and traverse the oncology visit.

Early experience with Watson for oncology in Korean patients with colorectal cancer.

BACKGROUND: Watson for oncology (WFO) is a cognitive computing system providing decision support. We evaluated the concordance rates between the treatment options determined by WFO and those determined by a multidisciplinary team (MDT). METHODS: We reviewed the medical charts of patients diagnosed with colorectal cancer who visited the MDT at a single tertiary medical center from November 2016 to April 2017. WFO classified the treatment options for specific patients into three categories: 'Recommended', 'For consideration', and 'Not recommended'. Concordance rates between the WFO- and MDT-determined chemotherapy options, and the factors that potentially influence the concordance rate, were analyzed. RESULTS: Sixty-nine patients with colorectal cancer met with the MDT from Nov. 2016 to Feb. 2017. The mean age of the patients was 62 years (range: 34-86 years), and more patients were male (47/69) than female. Of the 69 patients, 51 (73.9%) were diagnosed with colon cancer, of whom 46.4% received the same regimen recommendation from WFO ('Recommended') as they did from the MDT. After inclusion of the 'For consideration' category from WFO, the concordance rate increased to 87.0%. The concordance rate between MDT and NCCN guidelines was 97.1%, and that between the WFO and NCCN guidelines was 88.4%. The concordance rates between WFO and MDT were significantly lower in patients with stage II, IIIC, or IV disease (P<0.001), and the colorectal cancer stage was the only statistically significant factor discriminating between WFO and MDT. CONCLUSIONS: The concordance rate between chemotherapy regimens for colorectal cancer determined by MDT versus WFO recommendations was 46.4%. After including the 'For consideration' category from WFO, the concordance rate increased to 88.4%. Further modification and improvement of the WFO prioritizing algorithm used to recommend treatment may increase the usefulness of WFO in the clinic.

Smartphone apps to help children and adolescents with cancer and their families: a scoping review.

Introduction: Considering the importance of empowering patients and their families by providing appropriate information and education, it seems smartphone apps provide a good opportunity for this group. The purpose of this review was to identify studies which used smartphone apps to help children and adolescents with cancer and their families. Method: Arksey and O'Malley's framework was employed in this review. To examine the evidence on the design and use of smartphone apps for the target group, PubMed, Embase, Scopus and Web of Science databases were searched from 2007 to November 2018. Results: Twenty-four articles met the inclusion criteria, with 33% being conducted in the USA and 21% in Canada. Moreover, in 20 studies (83%), app was specifically designed for children and adolescents, with only three studies (13%) for parents and one study (4%) for both. The main modules of smartphone apps in these studies included symptom assessment (90%), provision of information and education (74%), communication with caregivers (57%), social support (30%) and calendar and reminder (21%). Conclusions: Due to the easy access to smartphones without a costly infrastructure compared to landline phones, the use of mobile health (m-Health) has become a suitable method of providing healthcare services, especially for cancer. Use of smartphone apps, increases patient and families' access to reliable and suitable education and information regarding the disease. Thus, healthcare policy-makers in developing or underdeveloped countries can exploit the health-related potentials of m-Health following the experience of developed countries.

A novel simulator model and standardized assessment tools for fine needle aspiration cytology training.

OBJECTIVES: Fine needle aspiration (FNA) is an invaluable diagnostic procedure for evaluation of lesions; however, acquisition of diagnostic material is dependent on the skill of the practitioner. We report a novel patient simulator for teaching the FNA procedure and structured assessment tools for educators and learners. METHODS: We created a novel simulator model for FNA training, employed a standardized teaching module, and assessed procedure utility in medical students. Groups of students completed training using a commercial version of the model, and underwent structured evaluation using an Objective Structured Assessment of Technical Skills (OSATS) form, and the Debriefing Assessment for Simulation in Healthcare (DASH) tool. RESULTS: In the initial phase, 178 students rated the training workshop between valuable and essential (4.2 on a 5-point Likert scale). In the second phase, for students evaluated with the OSATS form, the mean overall score was 33 out of 50 (range 26-43). The areas of weakness for the participants were: (a) compression after the FNA procedure, (b) completion of the informed consent, and (c) correct explanation of the procedure to the patient. For the group of students that completed the DASH questionnaire, the results were: 6.2 (assessment by students) and 6.7 (assessment by instructor) out of a maximum of 7. CONCLUSION: A realistic simulation model, in combination with a standardized training program with formal assessment methods is a valuable tool to teach FNA. We here describe a process for teaching the FNA procedure to interested educators and learners.