The Effect of Telephone-Based Follow-Up on Adherence, Efficacy, and Toxicity of Oral Capecitabine-Based Chemotherapy

Background: Adherence and safety challenges aroused with the use of oral chemotherapeutic agents, such as capecitabine, necessitated implementation of a more focused follow-up for patients receiving these agents. Patients and Methods: This prospective, randomized open-label study explored the usefulness of weekly telephone-based follow-up in Egyptian patients with metastatic colorectal or gastric cancer treated with capecitabine-based chemotherapy regimens at the National Cancer Institute, Egypt, compared with a standard care group. Patients' adherence, safety, efficacy, and health service utilization were assessed and compared in 82 eligible patients; control group (n = 38) and intervention group (n = 44). Results: The intervention group showed statistically better tolerability to certain adverse effects in certain cycles with nonsignificantly higher patients' adherence and overall survival (OS), along with statistically higher passive call duration. Conclusion: These results suggested that pharmacist-led telephone follow-up (TFU) could help in building a close trusting rapport between the patient and caregiving pharmacist. They also demonstrated the potential usefulness of the TFU on patients' tolerability, adherence, and OS; however, further trials with a larger sample size should be encouraged to explore more pronounced results. Otherwise, the provided standard care could be considered good enough for these patients.