Abstract
Telemedicine was first introduced in Neurology as a tool to facilitate access to acute stroke treatment. More recently, evidence has emerged of the use of telemedicine in several other areas of Neurology. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for social isolation, Brazilian authorities have expanded the regulation of the use of telemedicine, thus allowing the treatment of many patients with neurological diseases to be conducted with less risk of SARS-CoV-2 contamination. This study aimed to critically review the current evidence of the use, efficacy, safety, and usefulness of telemedicine in Neurology. A review of PubMed indexed articles was carried out by searching for the terms "telemedicine AND": "headache", "multiple sclerosis", "vestibular disorders", "cerebrovascular diseases", "epilepsy", "neuromuscular diseases", "dementia", and "movement disorders". The more relevant studies in each of these areas were critically analyzed. Several articles were found and analyzed in each of these areas of Neurology. The main described contributions of telemedicine in the diagnosis and treatment of such neurological conditions were presented, indicating a great potential of use of this type of assistance in all these fields. Current evidence supports that teleneurology can be a tool to increase care for patients suffering from neurological diseases.
Highlights
HEADACHETelemedicine, according to the World Health Organization, means the provision of health services when distance is a critical factor, by professionals who use information and communication technology to exchange valid information for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases, as well as for research, and the continuing education of professionals[1]
In Brazil, telemedicine was first regulated by the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) in 2002, by the resolution no. 1,6434
With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and the need for social isolation determined by local health authorities, there emerged a need to regulate these procedures as a way to maintain the provision of medical care, for SARS‐CoV-2-infected patients and for those with other medical conditions
Summary
Telemedicine, according to the World Health Organization, means the provision of health services when distance is a critical factor, by professionals who use information and communication technology to exchange valid information for the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases, as well as for research, and the continuing education of professionals[1]. The papers showed that the results obtained with the use of telemedicine were not inferior or significantly different from those obtained with face-to-face care as regards the reduction or improvement of attacks measured by scales such as the Migraine Disability Assessment (MIDAS) and the Headache Impact Test (HIT-6), and comorbidities[11,14,15,16]. Another parameter evaluated was safety in identifying potential secondary headaches. As yet there are no satisfactory reports on the safety and effectiveness of telemedicine for emergency headache care
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