Telemedicine Improves Pain-related Disabilities in Following up Cancer Pain Outpatient

May 10, 2026 updated by: Mahidol University

Telemedicine Improves Pain-related Disabilities in Following up Cancer Pain Outpatient: A Prospective Non-randomized Study.

Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide, with approximately 18.1 million new cases and 9.6 million deaths reported in 2018. Cancer-related pain is experienced by 50-70% of patients, with a higher prevalence at advanced disease stages (66.4%). Since the development of WHO's cancer pain guidelines, several studies have reported good relief of symptoms and suffering for a majority of patients. Recent reports suggest that up to 50% of patients still report insufficient pain control. Patients with cancer often present with multiple symptoms and functional decline. Evidence supports multidisciplinary approaches to address symptoms and suffering, including early palliative care referral

From review literatures we found that the telemedicine group had significantly higher quality of life than the usual care group. In addition, the telemedicine group had lower anxiety and depression scores than the usual care group.

Therefore, we will conduct the non-randomized controlled study of using telemedicine comparing to conventional in-person at OPD in hospitalized cancer pain patients.

The purpose of this study is to assess the pain interference by using the Brief Pain Inventory (BPI) and to compare between the in-person group and the telemedicine group. To assess the cost-effectiveness of telemedicine for reducing symptoms associated with cancer and its treatment.

Study Overview

Status

Completed

Conditions

Intervention / Treatment

Detailed Description

The pain interference will be assessed and compared using Brief Pain Inventory from 0-70 between In-person group and telemedicine group at 1 month.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

193

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

  • Thailand
    • Bangkok
      • Bangkoknoi, Bangkok, Thailand, 10700
        • Faculty of medicine Siriraj Hospital Mahidol University

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

18 years and older (Adult, Older Adult)

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

No

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  • Age older than 18 years old
  • Cancer patients who new visit as out patient at pain clinic, Siriraj hospital

Exclusion Criteria:

  • Cannot read and write
  • Confusion
  • Unable to use the 0-10 Numerical Rating Scale (NRS) to rate pain intensity.
  • Unstable clinical presentation

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Health Services Research
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Quadruple

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: In-person
Face to face at OPD
Other: In-person
In-person
Experimental: Telemedicine
Other: Telemedicine
Telemedicine

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Pain interference
Time Frame: at 1 month
The pain interference will be assessed and compared using Brief Pain Inventory from 0-70 between In-person group and telemedicine group.
at 1 month

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Quality of life (QoL)
Time Frame: at 1 month
The quality of life will be assessed and compared using EuroQoL 5D5L between In-person group and telemedicine group.
at 1 month
Pain intensity
Time Frame: at 1 month, 2 months and 3 months
The pain intensity from BPI (Brief Pain Inventory), including worst, least, average, and current pain reduction, will be assessed and compared using the numerical rating (NRS) from 0-10; 0 designating "no pain" and 10 designating " worst possible pain" scale between the in-person group and the telemedicine group.
at 1 month, 2 months and 3 months
Economic study
Time Frame: At Baseline, 1 month, 2 month and 3 month
We conducted an economic study evaluation from the patient and caregiver perspective. Costs analyzed included direct medical costs, direct non-medical costs (such as transportation and food), and indirect costs (total productivity loss). We calculated the Incremental Cost-Effectiveness Ratio (ICER) to determine the economic value of telemedicine relative to in-person care. The ICER was defined as the incremental difference in total direct costs divided by the incremental difference in clinical effectiveness across multiple outcomes, including EQ-5D-5L utility, EQ-VAS, PPS, total BPI reduction, and avoided increases in MEDD. The results were further visualized on a cost-effectiveness plane.
At Baseline, 1 month, 2 month and 3 month

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Sponsor

Mahidol University

Investigators

  • Study Director: Suratsawadee Wangnamthip, M.D., Mahidol University

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

January 19, 2023

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 31, 2026

Study Completion (Actual)

March 31, 2026

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

November 15, 2022

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

November 24, 2022

First Posted (Actual)

November 28, 2022

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Actual)

May 13, 2026

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 10, 2026

Last Verified

May 1, 2026

More Information

Terms related to this study

Additional Relevant MeSH Terms

Other Study ID Numbers

  • Si 310/2022

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

NO

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

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