Practical guidance for telemedicine use in neuro-oncology

Roy E Strowd; Erin M Dunbar; Hui K Gan; Sylvia Kurz; Justin T Jordan; Jacob J Mandel; Nimish A Mohile; Kathryn S Nevel; Jennie W Taylor; Nicole J Ullrich; Mary R Welch; Andrea Wasilewski; Maciej M Mrugala

doi:10.1093/nop/npac002

Practical guidance for telemedicine use in neuro-oncology

Neurooncol Pract. 2022 Jan 17;9(2):91-104. doi: 10.1093/nop/npac002. eCollection 2022 Apr.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurology and Internal Medicine, Wake Forest Baptist Comprehensive Cancer Center, Wake Forest School of Medicine, Winston Salem, North Carolina, USA.
² Piedmont Brain Tumor Center, Atlanta, Georgia, USA.
³ Medical Oncology, Austin Hospital, Heidelberg, Melbourne, Australia.
⁴ Brain and Spine Tumor Center at the Perlmutter Cancer Center, Department of Neurology, New York University Grossman School of Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
⁵ Department of Neurology, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
⁶ Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery, Houston, Texas, USA.
⁷ Department of Neurology and Wilmot Cancer Center, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York, USA.
⁸ Indiana University School of Medicine and Indiana University Health, Brain Tumor Center, Department of Neurology, Indianapolis, Indiana, USA.
⁹ Department of Neurology and Neurological Surgery, University of California, San Francisco, California, USA.
¹⁰ Department of Neurology, Boston Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA.
¹¹ Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons, Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York, USA.
¹² University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, Minnesota, USA.
¹³ Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science, Mayo Clinic, Phoenix/Scottsdale, Arizona, USA.

Abstract

While the COVID-19 pandemic has catalyzed the expansion of telemedicine into nearly every specialty of medicine, few articles have summarized current practices and recommendations for integrating virtual care in the practice of neuro-oncology. This article identifies current telemedicine practice, provides practical guidance for conducting telemedicine visits, and generates recommendations for integrating virtual care into neuro-oncology practice. Practical aspects of telemedicine are summarized including when to use and not use telemedicine, how to conduct a virtual visit, who to include in the virtual encounter, unique aspects of telehealth in neuro-oncology, and emerging innovations.

Keywords: caregiver; clinical trials; neurological examination; telehealth; telemedicine.

Published by Oxford University Press 2022.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

P50 HD105351/HD/NICHD NIH HHS/United States