Researchers at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center have tested a Web-based system that allows cancer patients to report chemotherapy side effects to their clinicians in real time. The results appear in the December 1 Journal of Clinical Oncology.

During a median 42-week period, 107 English-speaking patients, most of whom were over age 50, were able to use an online platform called Symptom Tracking and Reporting to log and grade physical, mental, and quality-of-life side effects while undergoing treatment for thoracic cancer, predominantly metastatic non-small-cell lung cancer. Patients typically entered their information at computer kiosks in the waiting area of their treatment clinic, though some used a home computer. Clinicians received these reports soon after and were free to follow up according to their judgment.

Patients adhered to the protocol fairly well throughout the study, regardless of age, sex, or disease severity. The only factor tied to adherence was previous experience with computers. Most often, reported barriers to using the system were insufficient time and not being reminded to use it. Nearly all of the patients said they found the system easy to use, wished to continue using it, and would recommend it to others.

If patients receive reminders and validation that the information they submit is truly useful to clinicians, then self-reporting programs such as these may improve efficiency in both clinical research and routine care settings by encouraging patients to follow their treatment regimens, improving the accuracy of toxicity data collection, expediting patient management, and decreasing avoidable hospitalizations, note the authors. The tradeoff, however, is that "between-visit reporting may increase work-burden by generating information that must be reviewed or acted upon."