Hughes SE, McMullan C, Aiyegbusi OL, Shaw K, Kinsella F, Ferguson P, Khatsuria F, Burns D, Pyatt L, Ansell J, Chakera E, Richardson-Abraham J, Denniston AK, Davies EH, Craddock C, and Calvert M
Introduction: Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies are novel, potentially curative therapies for haematological malignancies. CAR T-cell therapies are associated with severe toxicities, meaning patients require monitoring during acute and postacute treatment phases. Electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs), self-reports of health status provided via online questionnaires, can complement clinician observation with potential to improve patient outcomes. This study will develop and evaluate feasibility of a new ePRO system for CAR-T patients in routine care., Methods and Analysis: Multiphase, mixed-methods study involving multiple stakeholder groups (patients, family members, carers, clinicians, academics/researchers and policy-makers). The intervention development phase comprises a Delphi study to select PRO measures for the digital system, a codesign workshop and consensus meetings to establish thresholds for notifications to the clinical team if a patient reports severe symptoms or side effects. Usability testing will evaluate how users interact with the digital system and, lastly, we will evaluate ePRO system feasibility with 30 CAR-T patients (adults aged 18+ years) when used in addition to usual care. Feasibility study participants will use the ePRO system to submit self-reports of symptoms, treatment tolerability and quality of life at specific time points. The CAR-T clinical team will respond to system notifications triggered by patients' submitted responses with actions in line with standard clinical practice. Feasibility measures will be collected at prespecified time points following CAR T-cell infusion. A qualitative substudy involving patients and clinical team members will explore acceptability of the ePRO system., Ethics and Dissemination: Favourable ethical opinion was granted by the Health and Social Care Research Ethics Committee B(HSC REC B) (ref: 23/NI/0104) on 28 September 2023. Findings will be submitted for publication in high-quality, peer-reviewed journals. Summaries of results, codeveloped with the Blood and Transplant Research Unit Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement group, will be disseminated to all interested groups., Trial Registration Number: ISCTRN11232653., Competing Interests: Competing interests: MC is Director of the Birmingham Health Partners Centre for Regulatory Science and Innovation, Director of the Centre for the Centre for Patient Reported Outcomes Research and is a National Institute for Health Research (NIHR) Senior Investigator. MC receives funding from the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre, the NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre, NIHR ARC West Midlands, UK SPINE, European Regional Development Fund—Demand Hub and Health Data Research UK at the University of Birmingham and University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, Innovate UK (part of UKRI), Macmillan Cancer Support, UCB Pharma, Anthony Nolan, GSK and Gilead. MJC has received personal fees from Astellas, Aparito, CIS Oncology, Takeda, Merck, Daiichi Sankyo, Glaukos, GSK and the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) outside the submitted work. In addition, a family member owns shares in GSK. OLA receives funding from the NIHR Birmingham BRC, West Midlands, Birmingham, NIHR ARC West Midlands, NIHR BTRU, UKRI, Health Foundation, Anthony Nolan, Gilead Sciences, Sarcoma UK and GSK. He declares personal fees from Gilead Sciences, Merck and GSK outside the submitted work. SEH receives funding from the NIHR, UKRI, Rinri Therapeutics, Anthony Nolan and declares personal fees from Cochlear, Astra Zeneca, Pfizer, CIS Oncology and Aparito outside the submitted work. CM receives funding from NIHR Surgical Reconstruction and Microbiology Research Centre (SRMRC), UKRI, Anthony Nolan and declares personal fees from Aparito outside the submitted work., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ.)