title: Telerehabilitation in heart failure patients: The evidence and the pitfalls.
abstract: Accessibility to the available traditional forms of cardiac rehabilitation programs in heart failure patients is not adequate and adherence to the programs remains unsatisfactory. The home-based telerehabilitation model has been proposed as a promising new option to improve this situation. This paper's aims are to discuss the tools available for telemonitoring, and describing their characteristics, applicability, and effectiveness in providing optimal long term management for heart failure patients who are unable to attend traditional cardiac rehabilitation programs. The critical issues of psychological support and adherence to the telerehabilitation programs are outlined. The advantages and limitations of this long term management modality are presented and compared with alternatives. Finally, the importance of further research, multicenter studies of telerehabilitation for heart failure patients and the technological development needs are outlined, in particular interactive remotely controlled intelligent telemedicine systems with increased inter-device compatibility.
authors.affiliation: Telecardiology Center, Institute of Cardiology, Warsaw, Poland. Electronic address: epiotrowicz@ikard.pl.
authors.forename: Ewa
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Piotrowicz
authors.affiliation: Heart Failure Unit, Cardiology, G da Saliceto Hospital, Piacenza, Italy.
authors.forename: Massimo F
authors.initials: MF
authors.lastname: Piepoli
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Linköping, Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Tiny
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Jaarsma
authors.affiliation: Cyprus University of Technology, Cyprus.
authors.forename: Ekaterini
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lambrinou
authors.affiliation: Monash University, Melbourne, Australia; University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.
authors.forename: Andrew J S
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Coats
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Clinic, Tiefenauspital, Bern University Hospital, Bern, Switzerland.
authors.forename: Jean-Paul
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Schmid
authors.affiliation: Cardiology Division, IRCCS Fondazione 'S. Maugeri', Centro Medico e di Riabilitazione di Veruno, Via per Revislate 13, 28010 Veruno, Novara, Italy.
authors.forename: Ugo
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Corrà
authors.affiliation: Centro Cardiologico Monzino, IRCCS, Milano, Italy.
authors.forename: Piergiuseppe
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Agostoni
authors.affiliation: University of Bergen Stavanger University Hospital Stavanger, Norway.
authors.forename: Kenneth
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Dickstein
authors.affiliation: Polyclinic of the Clinical Centre of Serbia, Department of Internal Medicine, Belgrade University School of Medicine, Serbia.
authors.forename: Petar M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Seferović
authors.affiliation: Heart Failure-Transplant Unit, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center, Athens, Greece.
authors.forename: Stamatis
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Adamopoulos
authors.affiliation: Department of Heart Diseases, Faculty of Health Sciences, Wroclaw Medical University Military Hospital, Wroclaw, Poland.
authors.forename: Piotr P
authors.initials: PP
authors.lastname: Ponikowski
mesh_terms: D000072038:Cardiac Rehabilitation / Q000379:methods*; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine / Q000379:methods; D005081:Exercise Therapy / Q000379:methods; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D006801:Humans; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods; D000069350:Telerehabilitation / Q000379:methods*
keywords: Exercise training; Heart failure; Telerehabilitation