How essential are in-person clinic visits during maintenance treatment of children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia?

BACKGROUND: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is the most common cancer in children. Treatment consists of an initial intensive phase of chemotherapy, followed by a prolonged period of maintenance chemotherapy intended to reduce the risk of relapse. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the need arose to identify and reduce non-essential hospital visits. OBJECTIVE: We aimed to determine which proportion of in-person clinic visits during ALL maintenance therapy was associated with a change of management based on the results of the physical examination. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Medical records of children receiving maintenance chemotherapy for B-precursor ALL between September 2019 and February 2020 were reviewed. Visits with a new finding on physical examination were divided into those where an in-person assessment was deemed essential versus not essential. Finally, we determined the proportion of essential in-person visits that resulted in a change of management. RESULTS: A total of 240 maintenance visits by 75 children were analyzed. An abnormal finding on physical examination was noted during 20 visits (8.3%). Of those, 14 (5.8%) uncovered a new finding, six (2.5%) were classified as "in-person visit essential," and among those six visits, three (1.2%) resulted in a change of patient management (one for acute otitis media, one for wheezing, and one for limp). CONCLUSION: Our findings support the evaluation of care delivery models other than in-person visits during ALL maintenance therapy. A prospective study is required to delineate criteria, benefits/risks, and families' perspectives associated with virtual care delivery and the optimal frequency of in-person visits.