A Novel Remote Follow-Up Tool Based on an Instant Messaging/Social Media App for the Management of Patients With Low Anterior Resection Syndrome
Low anterior resection syndrome (LARS) is a common functional disorder that develops after patients with rectal cancer undergo anal preservation surgery. Common approaches to assess the symptoms of patients with LARS are often complex and time-consuming.
Instant messaging/social media has great application potential in LARS follow-up, but has been underdeveloped.
Objective: The aim of this study was to compare data between a novel instant messaging/social media follow-up system and a telephone interview in patients with LARS and to analyze the consistency of the instant messaging/social media platform.
Methods: Patients with R0 resectable rectal cancer who accepted several defecation function visits via the instant messaging/social media platform and agreed to a telephone interview after the operation using the same questionnaire including subjective questions and LARS scores were included. Differences between the 2 methods were analyzed in pairs and the diagnostic consistency of instant messaging/social media was calculated based on telephone interview results.
Conclusions
The instant messaging/social media system provides a promising solution to accommodate the primary follow-up needs of patients with LARS by integrating complex functional follow-up tools into smartphone apps. Although it is currently not a substitute for manual follow-up, it has the potential of becoming a major LARS screening method. However, further research on response rate, information accuracy, and user acceptance is needed before an advanced system can be implemented
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Common approaches to assess the symptoms of patients in long term treatments, currently in practice, include
These are time-consuming and often complex.
With the popularity of smartphones and mobile internet, remote network technology is changing traditional medical behavior