Development and Implementation of a Telemedicine Platform for Radiation Oncology Training and Peer Review

Background: Telemedicine has been posited as a potential means of bolstering radiation therapy delivery in developing nations. World Aid Exchange (WaidX) is an innovative intercontinental telemedicine platform oriented to oncology specialties. This platform, devoted to reducing the digital divide on health practice, provides telecommunication services between health care facilities in developed and developing countries. It conveys the ability to safely share radiologic images and patient medical records for diagnostic and care purposes. It was successfully piloted in Mwanza, Tanzania in 2015. Since then, it has been implemented in varied settings such as Ethiopia, Djibouti and Brazil. After conducting a site visit and a focused needs assessment, we recognized the need for teleconferencing with the Radiation Department of National Center of Oncology, Yerevan, Armenia, to share expertises in general patient management and contouring and planning for radiotherapy. Aim: To develop a TeleRadiotherapy platform that enables: 1: Conference calling for tumor boards to review radiotherapy plans, discuss disease management and conduct remote quality control 2: Real-time sharing of diagnostic images to guide clinical decision making 3: E-contouring activity performed by parties in Yerevan and New York on radiographic images, with minimization of time lag in contouring 4: Generation of a database for clinical data (i.e., radiation dose, toxicity, disease stage) that serves as a departmental registry and a tool for future research use 5: Access to lectures delivered by physicians, nurses, therapists and physicists both in Yerevan and New York on varied aspects of radiotherapy Methods: The initiative was funded through a competitive grant established within the Department of Radiation Oncology at Cornell. The TeleRadiotherapy system is comprised of 2 physical units, equipped to support networking and telephony integration. An application was used to establish a simplified direct connection between mobile phones in New York and fixed phone extensions in Yerevan. A customized version of Veyon was used for remote connection to a contouring station. Zoom was used to establish the teleconference. Remote operators in Weill Cornell Medicine were trained for using the system. Results: The first teleradiotherapy interaction between Yerevan and New York occurred on February 7th, 2018. Demonstration of contouring on the Oncentra treatment planning system in Yerevan revealed ease of use. The brush tool displayed less drag time than the point-by-point contouring tools. Diagnostic images were easily shared without compromise of the image resolution. Conference call quality was high. This conference has opened a series of biweekly chart rounds, between the two institutions. Conclusion: Teleradiotherapy is feasible with excellent voice quality, image sharing capability and real-time contouring. The database is under construction. We are developing a new model for learning, training and collaboration in radiotherapy using WaidX, to enable rapid knowledge and technology transfer for a more equitable access to high-quality cancer care worldwide.