Ophthalmology

How Telemedicine and Centralized Care Changed the Natural History of Retinoblastoma in a Developing Country: Analysis of 478 Patients

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Year of publication: 2020
Journal: Ophthalmology

The Yousef et al. study has reviewed the outcomes of 478 retinoblastoma patients who were treated at King Hussein Cancer Centre after implementing a telemedicine-based eye salvage program with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and compared that with outcomes for retinoblastoma patients who were treated before implementing a telemedicine-based retinoblastoma service. After the twinning program was established in 2003, the mortality rate decreased from 38% to 5% (P < 0.0001), and the overall eye salvage rate increased from 4% to 61%. Initially, all cases were discussed via telemedicine, but as knowledge transfer increased, the proportion of cases that required discussion decreased to less than 3% 10 years later. Similarly, treatment changes based on consultations decreased from 70% to 7% after 10 years. Both survival and eye-salvage rates were comparable at the early and later stages of implementing the twinning program. At a median follow-up of 120 months, 5% of patients had died of metastases or secondary neoplasms, 81% were alive, and 14% were lost to follow-up. The study concludes that Centralization of care at a single center in developing countries can achieve patient outcomes comparable with those of developed countries via twinning and telemedicine.

Link to the paper on PubMed

From the Publications Archives

Published 25/11/20
Ametconsectetur: rbnetmdt
Tags: Ophthalmology

The Yousef et al. study has reviewed the outcomes of 478 retinoblastoma patients who were treated at King Hussein Cancer Centre after implementing a telemedicine-based eye salvage program with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and compared that with outcomes for…