The impact of telemedicine on cancer care: real-world experience from a Peruvian institute during the COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

Background:

The COVID-19 pandemic caused discontinuities in cancer care (CC) in most countries. Here, the authors describe the real-world impacts of implementing a contingency plan employing telemedicine for CC.

Methods:

A retrospective study of patients who received CC through telemedicine at the Instituto Nacional de Enfermedades Neoplasicas, Peru, from March 2020 to February 2021 was conducted. Impacts were measured by comparing the amount of CC administered during the pandemic versus the prior year.

Results:

A total of 16,456 telemedicine visits were carried out. An annual comparative analysis showed a gap of 23% and telemedicine accounted for 27.6% of the total CC administered during the pandemic. A high (4.50/5) level of patient satisfaction with telemedicine was reported.

Conclusion:

Telemedicine is an important tool to facilitate the continuity of CC.

Keywords::

• cancer care
• impact and COVID-19
• telemedicine

Author contributions

Conception and design: K Roque Perez, R Ruiz and I Otoya. Administrative support: J Galarreta, T Vidaurre, S Neciosup, L Mas and H Gomez. Provision of study materials or patients: K Roque Perez, R Ruiz and I Otoya. Collection and assembly of data: K Roque Perez, R Ruiz and I Otoya. Data analysis and interpretation: K Roque Perez, R Ruiz, I Otoya and R Andrade de Mello. Manuscript writing and final approval of manuscript: all authors.

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Ethical conduct of research

The authors state that they have obtained appropriate institutional review board approval or have followed the principles outlined in the Declaration of Helsinki for all human or animal experimental investigations. This retrospective study collected only clinical data and did not interfere with treatment planning or present risks to patients’ physiology; the requirement for informed consent was waived.