Telemedicine in cancer care during COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic mapping study

Ali Garavand; Taleb Khodaveisi; Nasim Aslani; Mohammad Hosseiniravandi; Roshanak Shams; Ali Behmanesh

doi:10.1007/s12553-023-00762-2

Telemedicine in cancer care during COVID-19 pandemic: a systematic mapping study

Health Technol (Berl). 2023 Jun 10:1-14. doi: 10.1007/s12553-023-00762-2. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Ali Garavand¹, Taleb Khodaveisi², Nasim Aslani¹, Mohammad Hosseiniravandi³, Roshanak Shams⁴, Ali Behmanesh^{4

5}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Health Information Technology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran.
² Department of Health Information Technology, School of Allied Medical Sciences, Hamedan University of Medical Sciences, Hamedan, Iran.
³ Department of Health Information Technology, School of Paramedical Sciences, Torbat Heydarieh University of Medical Sciences, Torbat Heydariyeh, Iran.
⁴ Bone and Joint Reconstruction Research Center, Department of Orthopedics, School of Medicine, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
⁵ Education and Development Center, Iran University of Medical Sciences, Shahid Hemmat Highway, Tehran, 1449614535 Iran.

Abstract

Background: For monitoring, providing, and managing COVID-19 pandemic healthcare services, telemedicine holds incredible potential. During this period, there has been a change in the remote services offered to cancer patients. As a result, the purpose of this study was to conduct a mapping review to identify and classify telemedicine applications for providing cancer care to patients during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Methods: Articles published in scientific databases such as Web of Science, Scopus, PubMed, and ProQuest up to 2022 were searched for in this systematic mapping study. Identifying keywords, creating a search strategy, and selecting data sources were all part of our search for relevant articles. The articles were chosen in phases based on inclusion and exclusion criteria.

Results: A total of 1331 articles were found, with the majority of them (46% of them) taking place in the United States. Telemedicine systems were most commonly developed for breast cancer (11.4%), lung cancer (7.9%), head and neck cancer (6.4%), brain cancer (5.4%), gynecologic cancer (6.0%), urological cancer (5.7%), prostate cancer (5.0%), colorectal cancer (5.0%), biliary tract cancer (5.0%), and skin cancer (5.0%). Teleconsultation was the most common type of telemedicine application, with 60% of it taking place in real time.

Conclusion: Because of its emphasis on providing high-quality health care while reducing costs, telemedicine has gained popularity in the majority of countries, with positive economic and social consequences. While telemedicine systems provide a variety of healthcare services, during the COVID-19 era, they do not currently provide many services to all cancer patients worldwide.

Supplementary information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12553-023-00762-2.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cancer; Telemedicine; Teleoncology.

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