Optimizing Access to Care Through New Technologies: a Randomized Study Evaluating the Impact of Telephone Contact and the Sending by the General Practitioner of Suspicious Lesions Melanoma Photographs Taken With a Smartphone, on the Time Limit to the Consultation With a Dermatologist

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Patients at Risk for Melanoma
• Interventions: Other: Taking photographs of suspicious lesions with his smartphone and sending them to the dermatologist

• Registration Number: NCT03137511
• Lead Sponsor: Nantes University Hospital

Brief Summary

Early detection of melanoma showed an impact on the thickness of the lesions at the time of diagnosis. One challenge is to improve the modalities.

Decrease the rate of non-compliant patients among patients referred to the dermatologist for a suspicious lesion (patients who will never go to the consultation), and reduce the time interval between the first identification of the lesion and the excision allowing the diagnosis are major issues.

Direct contact between the general practitioner (GP) and the dermatologist would probably make it possible to shorten the care pathway of patients with lesions justifying excision.

The objective is to evaluate whether contacting the dermatologist directly by telephone and e-mailing the photograph of a suspicious melanoma lesion can significantly reduce the time required for access to the consultation for the following patients: (a) referred for a suspicious lesion of melanoma by the GP (b) and having a sufficiently suspicious lesion of melanoma so that the dermatologist conclude at the need for excision (true positives).

Expected results: The procedure should shorten the care pathway for patients with melanoma and decrease the proportion of patients who do not consult the dermatologist when they were referred ("non-observing patients").

This should facilitate the identification of thinner lesions. The benefit for the patient is then direct with a survival at 5 years higher.

In public health terms, it is expected a benefit as better optimization of resources. In a situation of shortage of professionals, access to the dermatologist should be optimized by optimizing emergency access for patients who require it.

Detailed Description

Not available

Basic Information
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Recruitment & Eligibility
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Study & Design
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Trial Locations

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2017-04-28
• Study First Submitted QC: 2017-04-28
• Study First Posted: 2017-05-02
• Study Start: 2017-05-23
• Primary Completion: 2018-11-28
• Study Completion: 2018-11-28
• Status Verified: 2019-04
• Last Update Submitted: 2019-04-26
• Last Update Posted: 2019-04-29

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: All
• Target Recruitment: 270

Inclusion Criteria

Patients:

• Consulting a general practitioner participating in the study,
• Having a suspicious cutaneous lesion of melanoma according to the MG,
• Referred to a dermatologist who agreed to participate in the study,
• > = 18 years of age, with written informed consent,
• Affiliated to a social security scheme

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Exclusion Criteria

Patients:

• Consulting a general practitioner who does not participate in the study,
• Having no suspect melanoma lesion according to MG,
• Referred to the dermatologist for symptoms or pathologies unrelated to a suspicion of melanoma
• Wishing to consult a dermatologist who refused to participate in the study,
• Refusing the transmission by mail of 2 anonymised photos,
• <18 years of age, or with no written informed consent.
• Major under tutelage, under curatorship

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Intervention group	Taking photographs of suspicious lesions with his smartphone and sending them to the dermatologist	General practitioners will be invited to screen for melanoma as part of their regular consultations. * The MG collects relevant clinical information * The MG takes 2 photographs of the lesion with his smartphone. * The MG sends to the dermatologist by e-mail the 2 photographs of the lesion accompanied by relevant clinical information * The MG calls the secretariat of the dermatologist to record the admissibility of the mail, to give the identity and the coordinates of the patient whose photos have just been sent and to obtain an appointment. * The dermatologist proposes an appointment to the patient.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Time limit for consultation general practitioner / dermatologist, patients having a sufficiently suspicious lesion of melanoma	12 months	Time limit for consultation between consultation of the general practitioner and consultation with the dermatologist, for patients: 1. referred for a suspicious lesion of melanoma by the general practitioner,; 2. and having a sufficiently suspicious lesion of melanoma so that the dermatologist conclude at the need for excision

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
"Non-observing" patients between the 2 randomization groups	12 months	Proportion of "non-observing" patients between the 2 randomization groups. A non-observing patient is a patient who has not consulted a dermatologist within 12 months following the prescription of his or her GP.
Time limit for consultation general practitioner / dermatologist, patients NOT having a sufficiently suspicious lesion of melanoma	12 months	Time limit for consultation between consultation of the general practitioner and consultation with the dermatologist, for patients: 1. referred for a suspicious lesion of melanoma by the general practitioner,; 2. BUT NOT having a sufficiently suspicious lesion of melanoma so that the dermatologist conclude at the need for excision

Trial Locations

Locations (1)

University Hospital; 🇫🇷 Nantes, France