ONCOPEDS: A NOVEL MOBILE APPLICATION FOR EARLY DIAGNOSIS AND REFERRALS
IN CHILDHOOD CANCER
Abstract
Background The diagnostic delay in children and adolescents with cancer
is a public health problem in Peru leading to high rates of advanced
disease and mortality. We aimed to evaluate the implementation and
utility of ONCOpeds, a mobile application that provides consultations,
in reducing the latency to diagnosis (LD) and referral time (RT) in
children and adolescents diagnosed with cancer in Peru. Material and
methods A multicenter pilot study was conducted in the region of Callao
between November 2017 and April 2018. Attending primary care physicians
were trained in the use of ONCOpeds in 5 educational sessions. Patients
younger than 18 years living in Callao and diagnosed with cancer from
all the pediatric cancer units were analyzed in two groups: referred by
the mobile application or by the conventional referral. Results ONCOpeds
was successfully installed in the smartphone devices of 78 attending
physicians of Callao. During this period, 23 new cases of cancer in
children and adolescents from Callao were collected. Ten patients were
referred through the application and 13 in a conventional manner. The LD
and RT were reduced in the group referred by ONCOpeds by 66% and 68%,
respectively; however, only the RT reached statistical significance (p =
0.02). Conclusions The implementation of the use of ONCOpeds was
feasible in this pilot study, having a potential utility in improving
the diagnosis and referral in children and adolescents with suspected
cancer. A larger study at the national level is required to demonstrate
the effectiveness of this telemedicine tool.