The currently developed implementation study aims to evaluate if a patient-led home-based follow-up approach is successful, improves quality of life, reduces anxiety and lessens fear of cancer recurrence during the years after surgical treatment of colorectal cancer (CRC).
As the available literature implies that intensive postoperative surveillance has no impact on (cancer-specific) survival outcomes in patients after curative intent surgery for CRC, critical appraisal of the current follow-up practice and guidelines is needed. Although patients in the referenced randomized controlled trials were included roughly 5 - 15 years ago, treatment for recurrent colorectal cancer has seen little to no change since then. Therefore, efforts to improve the current standard of follow-up in patients with CRC should focus on ameliorating quality of life and cost-effectiveness, rather than survival. It provides an opportunity to support patients emotionally, to evaluate treatment effects and complications, and to inform them on their individual prognosis. This is especially true considering the growing importance of value based healthcare and patient reported outcomes in medicine. The investigators therefore propose a patient-led home-based follow-up approach. This follow-up strategy primarily consists of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level monitoring at home, but additional counselling/diagnostic testing remains possible if desired by patients. In this way the investigators hope to meet the individual needs of patients during follow-up and to improve quality of life outcomes, while achieving equal or greater societal cost-effectiveness.
Study Type
OBSERVATIONAL
Enrollment
200
Kelly Raquel Voigt
Rotterdam, South Holland, Netherlands
Successful implementation
Patient-led follow-up will be considered successful if the used optional follow up rate is below 75%.
Time frame: Year 7 (after the last follow-up moment of the last included patient)
Successful home-based sampling
Defined as 25% or more of all scheduled or optional CEA assessments actually performed in blood collected by the patients themselves using the self-administered blood-sampling kit
Time frame: Year 7
Quality of life of cancer patients
Measured by the EORTC Core Quality of Life questionnaire (QLQ-C30). All scales and single-item measures range from 0-100 and are calculated using their respective formulas. Higher scores mean a better outcome.
Time frame: Year 7
Health-related quality of life
Measured by the EORTC Quality of Life Questionnaire - Colorectal Cancer Module (EORTC QLQ-CR29). All scales and single-item measures range from 0-100 and are calculated using their respective formulas. Higher scores mean a better outcome.
Time frame: Year 7
Momentary quality of life
Measured by ecological momentary assessment using the Global health status of the EORTC QLQ-C30. The 2 items are scored on a Likert-scale from 1 to 7. Higher scores mean a better outcome.
Time frame: Year 7
Anxiety
Measured by The State-Trait Anxiety Inventory: Six-Item Short-form (STAI-6). The STAI-6 comprises of 6 items, each scored on a Likert-scale from 1-4. The final score ranges from 20-80 and is calculated by adding up the score of all single items (positive items are reverse scored) and multiplying by 20/6. Higher scores mean a better outcome.
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Time frame: Year 7
Fear of cancer recurrence
Measured by the Assessment of Survivor Concerns - Cancer Worry subscale (ASC-CW). The total score is calculated by adding up the individual items and ranges from 3-12. Higher scores mean a worse outcome.
Time frame: Year 7
Cost-effectiveness of a patient-led home-based follow-up
The primary effect measure for the economic evaluation will be quality of life, using the The European Quality of Life Five Dimension Five Level Scale (EQ-5D-5L) as a basis for measuring utility. The EQ-5D-5L consists of five levels (mobility, self-care, usual activities, pain/discomfort and anxiety/depression), each scored on a Likert-scale from 1-5 and a visual analogue scale (VAS) scored from 0-100. The total score can be converted into an index value to be used in QALY analysis by ways of an index value calculator taking into account country-specific reference values.
Time frame: Year 7
Relation between coping style and follow-up preferences
Measured by the Threatening Medical Situations Inventory (TMSI). Total monitoring and blunting scores are obtained by summing up the relevant items, ranging from 12-60.
Time frame: Year 7
Satisfaction of the patient-led home-based follow-up
By a two-item questionnaire at the last follow-up. The first question about satisfaction consists of a scale from 1 to 10. Higher score means a better outcome. The second question is an open question whether the patient has ideas to improve the follow-up.
Time frame: Year 7