Telemedicine in neurology: advances and possibilities

ABSTRACT

Background: Telemedicine develops from technology that offers opportunities for knowledge transfer and information sharing and allows the provision of health services at a distance. Objective: To evaluate the number of publications on teleneurology in the last two decades in PubMed and the available evidence on the use of this technology in neurological clinical conditions. Methods: A quantitative assessment of publications related to telemedicine and neurology in the last two decades. A search was performed on the PubMed database for the descriptors ("Telemedicine"[Mesh]) AND "Neurology"[Mesh]). A review of the articles retrieved on the topic was carried out to evaluate the innovation processes used and applications in various clinical conditions involving teleneurology. Results: The search performed on March 14th 2022 resulted in 229 publications involving the topic of telemedicine and neurology between 1999 and 2022. Since 2000, there has been an increase in publications related to this topic, with a peak of 71 articles published in 2020, the year in which the World Health Organization defined the COVID-19 pandemic status. Conclusion:  In the last two decades, teleneurology has been developing through the expansion of technological resources and the COVID-19 pandemic intensified this process. Different modalities of teleneurology are studied in several neurology subfields and include teleconsultation (between healthcare professionals or between healthcare professionals and patients), telerehabilitation, telemonitoring and tele-education. The advances achieved by teleneurology in this period encouraged technological innovations and health processes that developed opportunities to improve the care provided in a mechanism of constant evolution.

RESUMO

Antecedentes: A telemedicina se desenvolve a partir da tecnologia que permite a transferência de conhecimento e o compartilhamento de informações, possibilitando a prestação de serviços de saúde à distância. Objetivo: Avaliar o número de publicações sobre teleneurologia nas últimas duas décadas no PubMed e as evidências disponíveis sobre o uso desta tecnologia em diferentes quadros clínicos neurológicos. Métodos: Avaliação quantitativa das publicações relacionadas à telemedicina e neurologia nas últimas duas décadas. O levantamento dos artigos ocorreu a partir de busca no PubMed com os descritores (“Telemedicine”[Mesh]) AND “Neurology” [Mesh]). Foi realizada uma revisão dos artigos relacionados ao tema para avaliar os processos de inovação utilizados e aplicações em diversas condições clínicas envolvendo a teleneurologia. Resultados: A busca realizada no PubMed em 14 de março de 2022 resultou em 229 publicações envolvendo o tema telemedicina e neurologia entre 1999 e 2022. Desde 2000, houve um aumento de publicações relacionadas a esse tema, com um pico de 71 artigos publicados em 2020, ano em que a Organização Mundial da Saúde definiu o status de pandemia da COVID-19. Conclusão: Nas últimas duas décadas, a teleneurologia vem se desenvolvendo com a expansão dos recursos tecnológicos e a pandemia de COVID-19 intensificou esse processo. São estudadas diferentes modalidades de telemedicina em diversas áreas da neurologia, incluindo teleconsulta e teleconsultoria, telereabilitação, telemonitorização e teleducação. Os avanços alcançados pela teleneurologia nesse período estimularam inovações tecnológicas e processos de saúde que criaram oportunidades para melhorar a assistência prestada em um mecanismo de constante evolução.

Keywords:

Telemedicine - Neurology - Remote Consultation - COVID-19 - Delivery of health care

Palavras-chave:

Telemedicina - Neurologia - Consulta Remota - COVID 19 - Atenção à saúde

Author’ contributions:

ERSA, SCIS: conceptualization, data curation, formal analysis, investigation, methodology, project administration, supervision, validation, writing-original draft, writing-review & editing.

Publication History

Received: 21 March 2022

Accepted: 29 April 2022

Article published online:
06 February 2023

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