In brief, image studies and pathological findings of all patients who received evaluation or treatment with LC at Kaohsiung Chang Gung Memorial Hospital were assessed, and patients' eligibility for intervention, including surgery, adjunctive/palliative chemotherapy, irradiation therapy, and/or target therapy, was evaluated based on the AJCC Cancer Staging Manual (7th edition) criteria [ 33].
A 2013 review of several programs in which patients received psychiatric evaluation and counselling by phone, e-mail, or video showed that telemedicine can improve symptoms, reduce length of hospital stays, and help people adhere to medication as well as face-to-face psychiatric care.
INTERVENTION: Eighty-eight intervention group patients received multidimensional evaluation by an interdisciplinary geriatric consultation team composed of a faculty geriatrician, geriatrics fellow, geriatric clinical nurse specialist, and a social worker trained in geriatrics.
These patients received multidisciplinary evaluation and treatment.
The majority reported that less than half of all patients received multidisciplinary evaluation before treatment.
The majority of specialists admitted that less than 50% of patients received multidisciplinary evaluation before treatment.
Among the study group, 45 patients received echocardiographic evaluation and 34 (75.5%) of them showed cardiac dysfunction.
All patients received baseline evaluation, standard treatment according to the guideline of lymphoma treatment in our institute and subsequent follow-up.
However, approximately 90% of the participants of our survey reported that less than half of all patients received multidisciplinary evaluation before treatment.
The patients were evaluated for QoL by SCI questionnaire and there were no statistical differences between the two arms, although only a small number of patients received an evaluation for QoL after second cycles due to progression of disease.
Included patients in both groups received evaluation questionnaires if still alive 14 months after ICU discharge.
