App-based assessment of patient-reported outcomes in the Molecular Tumor Board in the Center for Personalized Medicine-(TRACE)

Lorenz Dörner; Lucia Grosse; Felix Stange; Hanni Hille; Sylvia Kurz; Hannes Becker; Sebastian Volkmer; Melina Hippler; David Rieger; Paula Bombach; Johannes Rieger; Lina Weinert; Laura Svensson; Carolin Anders; Sila Cekin; Frank Paulsen; Öznur Öner; Kristina Ruhm; Holly Sundberg Malek; Yonne Möller; Marcos Tatagiba; Markus Wallwiener; Nils Eckert; Pascal Escher; Nico Pfeifer; Andrea Forschner; Armin Bauer; Daniel Zips; Michael Bitzer; Nisar Malek; Cihan Gani; Ghazaleh Tabatabai; Mirjam Renovanz

doi:10.1093/nop/npae002

App-based assessment of patient-reported outcomes in the Molecular Tumor Board in the Center for Personalized Medicine-(TRACE)

Neurooncol Pract. 2024 Jan 20;11(3):336-346. doi: 10.1093/nop/npae002. eCollection 2024 Jun.

Authors

Lorenz Dörner^{1

2

3}, Lucia Grosse^{1

2

3}, Felix Stange^{1

2

3}, Hanni Hille^{1

2

3}, Sylvia Kurz^{1

2

3}, Hannes Becker^{1

2

3

4}, Sebastian Volkmer^{1

2

3}, Melina Hippler^{1

2

3}, David Rieger^{1

2

3}, Paula Bombach^{1

2

3}, Johannes Rieger^{1

2

3}, Lina Weinert^{5

6}, Laura Svensson⁵, Carolin Anders⁵, Sila Cekin^{1

2

3}, Frank Paulsen^{2

3}, Öznur Öner³, Kristina Ruhm³, Holly Sundberg Malek³, Yonne Möller³, Marcos Tatagiba^{2

3

4}, Markus Wallwiener⁷, Nils Eckert⁸, Pascal Escher^{9

10}, Nico Pfeifer^{9

10}, Andrea Forschner¹¹, Armin Bauer¹², Daniel Zips¹³, Michael Bitzer^{14

15}, Nisar Malek^{14

15}, Cihan Gani^{2

3}, Ghazaleh Tabatabai^{1

2

3

15}, Mirjam Renovanz^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology & Interdisciplinary Neuro-Oncology, University Hospital Tübingen, Hertie Institute for Clinical Brain Research, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
² Center for Neuro-Oncology, Comprehensive Cancer Center Tübingen-Stuttgart, University Hospital Tübingen, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
³ Center for Personalized Medicine Tübingen, University Hospital Tübingen, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
⁴ Department of Neurosurgery, University Hospital Tübingen, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
⁵ Institute of Medical Informatics, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁶ Section for Translational Health Economics, Department for Conservative Dentistry, Heidelberg University Hospital, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁷ Department of Gynecology, University Hospital Heidelberg, University Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany.
⁸ Eckert & Partner - IT Consulting, Stuttgart, Germany.
⁹ Department of Computer Science, Methods in Medical Informatics, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
¹⁰ Center for Innovative Care, Tübingen, Germany.
¹¹ Department of Dermatology, University Hospital Tübingen, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
¹² Department of Women`s Health, University Hospital Tübingen, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
¹³ Department of Radiation Oncology, University Hospital Tübingen, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
¹⁴ Department of Internal Medicine I, University Hospital Tübingen, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.
¹⁵ Cluster of Excellence (EXC 2180) "Image Guided and Functionally Instructed Tumor Therapies", University Hospital Tübingen, Eberhard Karls University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany.

PMID: 38737615
PMCID: PMC11085831 (available on 2025-01-20)
DOI: 10.1093/nop/npae002

Abstract

Background: Biomarker-based therapies are increasingly used in cancer patients outside clinical trials. Systematic assessment of patient-reported outcomes (PRO) is warranted to take patients' perspectives during biomarker-based therapies into consideration. We assessed the feasibility of an electronic PRO assessment via a smartphone application.

Methods: An interdisciplinary expert panel developed a smartphone application based on symptom burden and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) metrics reported in a retrospective analysis of 292 neuro-oncological patients. The app included validated assessments of health-related quality of life (HRQoL), the burden of symptoms, and psychological stress. Feasibility and usability were tested in a pilot study. Semi-structured interviews with patients and health care professionals (HCP) were conducted, transcribed, and analyzed according to Mayring´s qualitative content analysis. Furthermore, we assessed compliance and descriptive data of ePROs.

Results: A total of 14 patients have been enrolled, (9 female, 5 male). A total of 4 HCPs, 9 patients, and 1 caregiver were interviewed regarding usability/feasibility. The main advantages were the possibility to complete questionnaires at home and comfortable implementation in daily life. Compliance was high, for example, 82% of the weekly distributed NCCN distress thermometer questionnaires were answered on time, however, with interindividual variability. We observed a median distress score of 5 (range 0-10, 197 results, n = 12, weekly assessed) and a median Global health score of 58.3 according to the EORTC QLQ-C30 instrument (range 16.7-100, 77 results, n = 12, monthly assessed).

Conclusions: This pilot study proved the feasibility and acceptance of the app. We will therefore expand its application during biomarker-guided therapies to enable systematic PRO assessments.

Keywords: biomarker-based therapy; ePRO; health-related quality of life; personalized medicine.

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