The role of patient-reported outcome measures in the continuum of cancer clinical care: ESMO Clinical Practice Guideline
Massimo Di Maïo, Ethan Basch, Fabrice Denis, Lesley Fallowfield, Patricia A. Ganz, Doris Howell, Christoph Kowalski, Francesco Perrone, Angela M. Stover, Puma Sundaresan, Lorraine Warrington, L. Zhang, Kathi Apostolidis, J. Freeman-Daily, Carla Ripamonti, Daniele Santini
Abstract
Patients with cancer frequently experience symptoms related to their disease or treatment-related toxicities. Symptom management through optimal supportive care is a foundation of quality care. While objective toxicities and laboratory results are amenable to reporting by health care personnel, subjective experiences such as symptoms are best reported by patients themselves.1 Traditionally, patients are relied upon to discuss symptoms and side-effects with the clinical team during hospital and clinic visits, when contacting their health care team between visits via telephone or, more recently, electronic messaging.