New CARTOX App Assists Grading and Management of IEC Toxicities
By Sherry Adkins, RN, MSN, ANP-C and Kara Wacker, MBA, RAC
The CARTOX Mobile App for iPhone and Android, created by MD Anderson Cancer Center, is now available to assist clinicians with accurate and timely grading and treatment of toxicities associated with immune effector cellular therapy (IEC). The app is intended for physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, and pharmacists who treat patients receiving IECs.
Sherry Adkins, RN, MSN, ANP-C, Advanced Practice Provider Supervisor, Lymphoma Research at the MD Anderson Cancer Center developed the idea of an app to allow for safer and more efficient care of the rapidly expanding population of patients receiving IECs. “We recognize that the app has helped our group improve the safety and efficiency of care for this group of patients,” explains Adkins. “We hope it will help other clinicians, particularly those who are just beginning to administer this therapy.”
Ms. Adkins led the implementation strategy with coding assistance from Darren Skeete and his team from the center’s Informational Technology (IT) department. Members of the MD Anderson CARTOX Committee, including Drs. Sattva Neelapu and Elizabeth Shpall, reviewed and tested the app. The process started in the Fall of 2017, and MD Anderson clinicians had access by August of 2018.
The app is based on published guidelines, and will continue to be updated as science evolves to reflect the most current practice guidelines. The initial version of toxicity grading was based on the MD Anderson’s CARTOX program guidelines, but has since been updated to reflect the ASTCT (formerly known as ASBMT) consensus grading. (Biol Blood Marrow Transplant. 2019 Apr;25(4):625-638. doi: 10.1016/j.bbmt.2018.12.758. Epub 2018 Dec 25. Review.)
Toxicity management is based on the CARTOX program’s guidelines, which were developed by a multidisciplinary, multi-institutional group of clinicians (Nat Rev Clin Oncol. 2018 Jan;15(1):47-62. doi: 10.1038/nrclinonc.2017.148. Epub 2017 Sep 19. Review). Toxicity management guidelines are currently being updated and the mobile APP will be updated to reflect those changes in the near future.
To download the app, search for CARTOX in the Apple Store or Google Play.
