Prospective evaluation of patient-reported anxiety and experiences with adaptive radiation therapy on an MR-linac

Purpose: An integrated magnetic resonance scanner and linear accelerator (MR-linac) was implemented with daily online adaptive radiation therapy (ART). This study evaluated patient-reported experiences with their overall hospital care as well as treatment in the MR-linac environment. Methods: Patien...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Technical Innovations & Patient Support in Radiation Oncology
Main Authors: Amanda Moreira, Winnie Li, Alejandro Berlin, Cathy Carpino-Rocca, Peter Chung, Leigh Conroy, Jennifer Dang, Laura A. Dawson, Rachel M. Glicksman, Ali Hosni, Harald Keller, Vickie Kong, Patricia Lindsay, Andrea Shessel, Teo Stanescu, Edward Taylor, Jeff Winter, Michael Yan, Daniel Letourneau, Michael Milosevic, Michael Velec
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2024-03-01
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Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405632424000076
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Summary:Purpose: An integrated magnetic resonance scanner and linear accelerator (MR-linac) was implemented with daily online adaptive radiation therapy (ART). This study evaluated patient-reported experiences with their overall hospital care as well as treatment in the MR-linac environment. Methods: Patients pre-screened for MR eligibility and claustrophobia were referred to simulation on a 1.5 T MR-linac. Patient-reported experience measures were captured using two validated surveys. The 15-item MR-anxiety questionnaire (MR-AQ) was administered immediately after the first treatment to rate MR-related anxiety and relaxation. The 40-item satisfaction with cancer care questionnaire rating doctors, radiation therapists, the services and care organization and their outpatient experience was administered immediately after the last treatment using five-point Likert responses. Results were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Results: 205 patients were included in this analysis. Multiple sites were treated across the pelvis and abdomen with a median treatment time per fraction of 46 and 66 min respectively. Patients rated MR-related anxiety as “not at all” (87%), “somewhat” (11%), “moderately” (1%) and “very much so” (1%). Positive satisfaction responses ranged from 78 to 100% (median 93%) across all items. All radiation therapist-specific items were rated positively as 96–100%. The five lowest rated items (range 78–85%) were related to general provision of information, coordination, and communication. Overall hospital care was rated positively at 99%. Conclusion: In this large, single-institution prospective cohort, all patients had low MR-related anxiety and completed treatment as planned despite lengthy ART treatments with the MR-linac. Patients overall were highly satisfied with their cancer care involving ART using an MR-linac.
ISSN:2405-6324