Remote long-term follow-up clinic after hematopoietic cell transplantation using internet telemedicine: a single-institute experience

Abstract

 There is an increased risk of late complications such as chronic graft-versus-host disease and secondary malignancies among patients who undergo allogeneic hematopoietic cell transplantation (allo-HCT), which could lead to deterioration in the quality of life and late mortality. Recently, the long-term follow-up (LTFU) clinics have been recognized as an important intervention to patients who underwent allo-HCT. In 2017, an LTFU clinic was established at the Wakayama Medical University. However, visitation to the LTFU clinic was difficult, especially for patients from remote areas. Thus, using internet telemedicine and medical information cooperation system called Seishu LINK, we set up a remote LFTU clinic in the Kinan Hospital, in which five patients were already catered. Despite a few flickering screen issues and acoustic noises in the system, medical interviews and patient guidance were successful. Furthermore, developing a remote LTFU clinic system for allo-HCT survivors in Wakayama, Japan, is our next step.