Improving cancer health outcomes through telemedicine and smart healthcare: Past, present, and future prospects

Cancer, in its various forms and types, is among the top killers worldwide, and there is a need for early detection, diagnosis, treatment, and triage. The integration of telemedicine and smart healthcare technologies has revolutionized cancer care, offering new ways to improve cancer health outcomes. Telemedicine has evolved over time to facilitate smart healthcare provision by incorporating next-generation technologies. This evolution and technological advancements have created new opportunities to enhance the quality of health care and cancer patients’ access to care, including possibilities for personalized care, giving rise to the concept of smart cancer care through next-generation technologies such as artificial intelligence (including machine learning and deep learning), the internet of things, and big data analytics. Moreover, telemedicine creates opportunities for enhanced access to quality care for patients in remote and underserved areas. Thus, this study presents the multifaceted role of telemedicine in providing smart healthcare for cancer patients, the technologies that facilitate smart cancer care in telemedicine, the challenges of telemedicine-facilitated smart cancer care, and recommendations for the success of telemedicine-facilitated smart cancer care. The study was guided by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses. The study reveals that smart cancer care integrates telemedicine with other technological advancements to create a holistic and responsive healthcare ecosystem. This integration not only improves patient outcomes but also optimizes resource utilization and reduces healthcare costs. However, challenges such as lack of up-to-date regulatory frameworks, technological and financial barriers, language barriers, lack of interoperability, and poor data quality affect the transition to smart health care.