Study of Smartphone App for Symptom Monitoring to Improve Exercise Adherence After Minimally Invasive Lung Cancer Surgery

What this Trial Is About

Researchers are evaluating the use of a smartphone app for remote symptom monitoring to improve adherence to outpatient pulmonary rehabilitation exercises among patients who have undergone minimally invasive lung cancer surgery. This randomized controlled trial aims to compare symptom monitoring with clinician feedback to symptom monitoring without feedback, focusing on exercise adherence during the first month after hospital discharge. The study addresses challenges like pain and fatigue that may hinder recovery after surgery and includes an interim analysis to assess feasibility and refine outcomes. Participants will be randomly assigned to one of two groups. The intervention group will use a smartphone app to report symptom severity on specified days after discharge, triggering alerts and remote clinician guidance if certain symptoms reach a defined severity. The control group will also report symptoms via the app but will not receive clinician alerts. The primary outcomes include the rehabilitation exercise adherence rate and mean weekly exercise duration over one month following discharge. During the study, participants will use the app to complete electronic questionnaires on symptom severity at discharge and on days 3, 7, 14, 21, and 28 after discharge. Researchers will monitor exercise adherence, symptom changes, postoperative complications, hospital readmissions, and patient satisfaction. The study plans to enroll 224 patients aged 18 to 75 years who are capable of using smartphones and completing electronic surveys. The total follow-up period for each participant is 30 days after discharge.

Smartphone-based Remote Symptom Monitoring to Improve Postoperative Rehabilitation Exercise Adherence After Video-assisted Thoracic Surgery (VATS) for Lung Cancer