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Review
. 2021 Feb 13;11(2):237.
doi: 10.3390/brainsci11020237.

Telehealth in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Opportunities and Challenges for Patients and Physicians

Fabiola De Marchi  1   2 , Elena Contaldi  2   3 , Luca Magistrelli  3   4 , Roberto Cantello  1   3 , Cristoforo Comi  3 , Letizia Mazzini  1
Affiliations
Review

Telehealth in Neurodegenerative Diseases: Opportunities and Challenges for Patients and Physicians

Fabiola De Marchi et al. Brain Sci. .

Abstract

Telehealth, by definition, is distributing health-related services while using electronic technologies. This narrative Review describes the technological health services (telemedicine and telemonitoring) for delivering care in neurodegenerative diseases, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's Disease, and amyotrophic lateral Sclerosis, among others. This paper aims to illustrate this approach's primary experience and application, highlighting the strengths and weaknesses, with the goal of understanding which could be the most useful application for each one, in order to facilitate telehealth improvement and use in standard clinical practice. We also described the potential role of the COVID-19 pandemic to speed up this service's use, avoiding a sudden interruption of medical care.

Keywords: Alzheimer’s disease; Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis; Parkinson’s Disease; neurodegeneration; neurology; telehealth; telemedicine.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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