Telescreening as an alternate modality for early detection of oral cancer

Mobile Health System for Meeting Health Information Needs in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer Undergoing Radiotherapy: Development and Feasibility Study

Patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy encounter physical and psychosocial challenges, indicating unmet needs. Mobile health technology can potentially support patients. This single-armed feasibility study included 30 patients with head and neck cancer undergoing radiotherapy. Patients were asked to use the Health Enjoy System, a mobile health support system that provides a disease-related resource for 1 week. We assessed the usability of the system and its limited efficacy in meeting patients' health information needs. The result showed that the system was well received by patients and effectively met their health information needs. They also reported free comments on the system's content, backend maintenance, and user engagement. This study supplies a foundation for further research to explore the potential benefits of the Health Enjoy System in supporting patients with head and neck cancer.

Methods, Detection Rates, and Survival Outcomes of Screening for Head and Neck Cancers: A Systematic Review

Importance

Head and neck cancers (HNCs) are often diagnosed at advanced clinical stages during their symptomatic phase, leading to a reduced treatment window and poor survival. Screening programs have been suggested as a mitigation strategy.

Objective

To examine the effectiveness of current HNC screening programs in improving diagnosis and survival in adults.

Evidence Review

This Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses-guided systematic review involved use of peer-reviewed, English-language journal articles identified from MEDLINE, Embase, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials between January 1, 2001, and July 15, 2022. Snowballing was applied to retrieve more studies. Eligible articles were original clinical trials and observational studies presenting a universal or risk-targeted screening program of primary HNC in the adult population. Reporting quality was assessed using the JBI's critical appraisal tools.

Findings

Database searches yielded 3646 unique citations with an additional 8 studies found via snowballing. Five reviewers assessed the full text of 106 studies. Sixteen articles were ultimately included in the review, involving 4.7 million adults (34.1%-100% male; median age, 30-59 years). Fifteen studies were based in Asia and 1 in Europe (Portugal). Five reported data from randomized clinical trials. An oral inspection conducted once or once every 2 to 3 years was described in 11 studies for screening oral cancer, while multistep screening involving Epstein-Barr virus serologic testing for nasopharyngeal carcinoma delivered every 1 to 4 years was presented in 5. In 4 trials and 6 observational studies, screening significantly increased the detection of localized (stage I/II) tumor or was associated with an increased proportion of diagnoses, respectively, regardless of the population and cancer subsites. Universal screening of asymptomatic adults improved 3- to 5-year overall survival but did not increase cancer-specific survival in 4 trials. Targeted screening improved overall and cancer-specific survival or was associated with improved survival outcomes in 2 trials and 2 observational studies, respectively. Studies had low to medium risks of bias.

Conclusions and Relevance

Evidence from the existing literature suggests that a risk-targeted screening program for oral and nasopharyngeal cancers could improve diagnosis and patient survival. Screening adherence, societal cost-effectiveness, and optimal risk stratification of such a program warrant future research, especially in low-incidence settings outside Asia.

Mobile Health (mHealth) Technology in Early Detection and Diagnosis of Oral Cancer-A Scoping Review of the Current Scenario and Feasibility

Objective

Oral cancer is one of the most common types of cancer with dreadful consequences. But it can be detected early without much expensive equipment. Screening and early detection of oral cancer using Mobile health (mHealth) technology are reported due to the availability of the extensive network of mobile phones across populations. Therefore, we aimed to explore the existing literature regarding mHealth feasibility in the early detection of oral cancer. Materials and Method. An extensive search was conducted to explore the literature on the feasibility of mobile health for early oral cancer. Clinical studies reporting kappa agreement between on-site dentists and offsite health care workers/dentists in the early detection of oral cancer were included in this review. Studies describing the development of a diagnostic device, app development, and qualitative interviews among practitioners trained in using mobile health were also included in this review for a broader perspective on mHealth.

Results

While most of the studies described various diagnostic accuracies using mHealth for oral cancer early detection, few studies reported the development of mobile applications, novel device designs for mHealth applications, and the feasibility of a few mHealth programs for early oral cancer detection. Community health workers equipped with a mobile phone-based app could identify “abnormal” oral lesions. Overall, many studies reported high sensitivity, specificity, and Kappa value of agreement. Effectiveness, advantages, and barriers in oral cancer screening using mHealth are also described.

Conclusion

The overall results show that remote diagnosis for early detection of oral cancer using mHealth was found useful in remote settings.