Teleoncology: The Youngest Pillar of Oncology.
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 32997540.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1200/GO.20.00295 and PMC identifier 7529505.
- Licence recorded as CC BY.
- The licence permits redistribution, so the abstract is shown in full and the full text is available from the publisher.
Abstract
The core pillars of multimodal care of patients with cancer are surgical, radiation, and medical oncology. The global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has suddenly resurrected a new pillar in oncology care: teleoncology. With oncologists reaching out to patients through telemedicine, it is possible to evaluate and fulfill patients' needs; triage patients for elective procedures; screen them for influenza-like illness; provide them with guidance for hospital visits, if needed; and bridge oral medications and treatments when a hospital visit is not desirable because of any high risk-benefit ratio. Teleoncology can bring great reassurance to patients at times when reaching an oncology center is challenging, and more so in resource-constrained countries. Evidence-based treatment protocols, dispensable by teleoncology, already exist for many sites of cancer and they can provide a bridge to treatment when patients are unable to reach cancer centers for their standard treatment. The young pillar of teleoncology is going to remain much longer than COVID-19.
Medical subject headings
- Coronavirus Infections
- Infection Control
- Medical Oncology
- Neoplasms
- Pandemics
- Pneumonia, Viral
- Telemedicine