Humanizing medicine through technologythat was the objective set by four Uruguayan doctors who won a prize of €25,000 to develop a apps with which to improve the quality of life of breast cancer patients.
Dr. Camila Otero, dermatologists Alejandra Larre Borges and Sofía Nicoletti, and oncologist Cecilia Castillo began research to improve the quality of life of patients with stage one to three breast cancer, and within this framework they thought of creating an app interactive in which patients could communicate with their doctors, report adverse dermatological effects caused by their treatments and clear up doubts, as well as learn about skin care, hair, nails, sexuality and mindfulness (understood as the focus of attention on the present moment).
With the idea of the “Together” appthese doctors were the winners of the 2022 La Roche-Posay Research Grants Latin America award from Grupo L’Oréal.
“Through the app, patients will be able to communicate with a dermatology team and with the nurse navigator, who is a specialist in guiding cancer patients during this period that is so difficult for them,” said Otero. In addition to evacuating doubts, they will also be able to report symptoms, which will allow doctors to advise whether the patient should go to the health system immediately.
together they won
“Juntas” was selected among 13 other proposals that competed for the award in Latin America. Highly qualified dermatologists were in charge of qualifying the project. With the award, the doctors will be able to continue with the development of the app, which currently has the prototype ready for execution and is in an intermediate phase.
The research of this group of doctors is based on the hypothesis that the use of the app will improve the quality of life of patients. This will be sought to confirm with a field work that will be carried out for a year at the British Hospital and at the Hospital de Clínicas. In each health center, 100 patients will be followed up, 50 will use the app and 50 will not, but all must complete dermatological quality of life questionnaires.
“We want to see if the control group actually has a better quality of life for using the app,” he said. If the positive impact is confirmed, the idea of the doctors is to implement the app for all patients with breast cancer and also adjust the application for other oncological pathologies.
As reported, based on scientific data, about 80% of patients undergoing cancer treatment have adverse skin effects, and 57% of breast cancer patients suffer from anxiety before starting their treatments due to possible adverse effects; the one that worries the most is hair loss.
