Review of a high-resourced cancer-related fatigue clinic and considerations in lower-resourced environments

Cancer-related fatigue (CRF) is a frequent symptom in cancer patients and is often difficult to manage. In our highly resourced comprehensive cancer center, we developed a clinic in 1998 to evaluate and manage patients with CRF. In this paper, we describe the CRF clinic’s current clinical operations, including telemedicine visits, electronic education, and survey tool distribution. Presently, there is limited information regarding CRF management in lower-resourced environments, although there are initiatives—especially in sub-Saharan Africa—focused on overall CRF treatment and supportive care measures that evaluate the CRF resources available in some of these areas. Enlisting the support of cancer providers treating these populations and cataloging the present state of CRF care in lower-resourced environments is an important first step in establishing the CRF needs that should be addressed. Thereafter, we propose that some methods of managing CRF that we have developed in our highly resourced clinical environment could be adapted for lower-resourced environments as a means of addressing the global burden of CRF and ultimately benefitting all cancer patients and their families.