Novel Approach to Improving Specialist Access in Underserved Populations with Suspicious Oral Lesions

Late detection and specialist referral result in poor oral cancer outcomes globally. High-risk LRMU populations usually do not have access to oral medicine specialists, a specialty of dentistry, whose expertise includes the identification, treatment, and management of oral cancers. To overcome this...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Current oncology (Toronto) Vol. 30; no. 1; pp. 1046 - 1053
Main Authors: Nguyen, James, Yang, Susan, Melnikova, Anastasya, Abouakl, Mary, Lin, Kairong, Takesh, Thair, Wink, Cherie, Le, Anh, Messadi, Diana, Osann, Kathryn, Wilder-Smith, Petra
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Switzerland MDPI 11.01.2023
MDPI AG
Subjects:
Humans
oral cancer
screening
specialist access
telehealth
Telemedicine - methods
underserved populations
Vulnerable Populations
specialist access
screening
underserved populations
telehealth
oral cancer
ISSN:1718-7729, 1198-0052, 1718-7729
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Late detection and specialist referral result in poor oral cancer outcomes globally. High-risk LRMU populations usually do not have access to oral medicine specialists, a specialty of dentistry, whose expertise includes the identification, treatment, and management of oral cancers. To overcome this access barrier, there is an urgent need for novel, low-cost tele-health approaches to expand specialist access to low-resource, remote and underserved individuals. The goal of this study was to compare the diagnostic accuracy of remote versus in-person specialist visits using a novel, low-cost telehealth platform consisting of a smartphone-based, remote intraoral camera and custom software application. A total of 189 subjects with suspicious oral lesions requiring biopsy (per the standard of care) were recruited and consented. Each subject was examined, and risk factors were recorded twice: once by an on-site specialist, and again by an offsite specialist. A novel, low-cost, smartphone-based intraoral camera paired with a custom software application were utilized to perform synchronous remote video/still imaging and risk factor assessment by the off-site specialist. Biopsies were performed at a later date following specialist recommendations. The study’s results indicated that on-site specialist diagnosis showed high sensitivity (94%) and moderate specificity (72%) when compared to histological diagnosis, which did not significantly differ from the accuracy of remote specialist telediagnosis (sensitivity: 95%; specificity: 84%). These preliminary findings suggest that remote specialist visits utilizing a novel, low-cost, smartphone-based telehealth tool may improve specialist access for low-resource, remote and underserved individuals with suspicious oral lesions.
Bibliography:ObjectType-Article-1
SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1
ObjectType-Feature-2
content type line 23
ISSN:1718-7729
1198-0052
1718-7729
DOI:10.3390/curroncol30010080