Digital Medicine in Oncology: Clinical Decision Support, Real World Data and Patient Involvement

Abstract

Oncology has experienced a massive growth in knowledge over the last years. However, the growing amount of knowledge and data increases the complexity of clinical decisions and presents oncologists with new challenges. Currently, oncology-specific IT solutions are being developed with the aim to improve survival of cancer patients.The complexity of treatment decisions in oncology has greatly increased due to introduction of novel biomarkers and targeted therapeutics. First "intelligent" systems that suggest therapies based on available data have been developed, however, these systems are not yet widely adopted and lack sufficient clinical validation.Increasing implementation of electronic health records enables structured collection and analysis of data from routine patient care. These real-world data are used for post marketing surveillance and can help to develop therapy guidelines. Currently it is being discussed if real world data can provide sufficient evidence for regulatory decisions.Broad availability of internet access and smartphones provides an opportunity to involve patients in surveillance and control of cancer treatments. Early reporting of symptoms and side effects is likely to improve treatment and compliance. In addition, patient reported outcomes can be employed for data collection in clinical trials and for quality surveillance. First randomized trials suggest that collection of patient reported outcomes can improve symptoms and survival of cancer patients.