1 Introduction -- 2 Overview and Background -- PART I – Fields of application 3 The community: Early diagnosis and prevention -- 4 The hospital: Improving hospital care for people with cancer -- 5 Home-based care for a better quality of life: Treatment, monitoring and follow-up -- PART II – Technical Issues 6 New technologies and new frontiers -- 7 The social web -- PART III – Complex Scenarios and Special Settings -- 8 Rural and extreme rural settings -- 9 Tele-oncology in developing countries -- PART IV – eLearning 10 Education and distant learning -- 11 Health education to improve prevention -- 12 Conclusions.

This book explains how telemedicine can offer solutions capable of improving the care and survival rates of cancer patients and can also help patients to live a normal life in spite of their condition. Different fields of application – community, hospital, and home based – are examined, and detailed attention is paid to the use of tele-oncology in rural/extreme rural settings and in developing countries. The impact of new technologies and the opportunities afforded by the social web are both discussed. The concluding chapters consider eLearning in relation to cancer care and assess the scope for eDucation to improve prevention. No medical condition can shatter people’s lives as cancer does today, and the need to develop strategies to reduce the disease burden and improve quality of life is paramount. Readers will find this new volume in Springer’s TELe Health series to be a rich source of information on the important contribution that can be made by telemedicine in achieving these goals.