JMIR Publications

ABSTRACT

Background:

Severe chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy (CIPN) can cause long-term dysfunction of the hands and feet, interfere with activities of daily living, and diminish quality of life. Monitoring to identify CIPN before it progresses to life-altering severity relies on patients self-reporting subjective symptoms to their clinical team. Objective assessment is not a standard component of CIPN monitoring due to the requirement for specially trained healthcare professionals and equipment. Smartphone apps have the potential to conveniently collect both subjective and objective CIPN data directly from patients, which could improve CIPN monitoring.

Objective:

The objective of this cross-sectional pilot study was to assess the feasibility of functional CIPN assessment via smartphone app.

Methods:

Twenty-six patients who had completed neurotoxic chemotherapy were enrolled and classified as CIPN cases (n=16) or controls (n=10) based on self-report symptoms. All participants completed CIPN assessments within the NeuroDetect app a single time including patient-reported surveys (CIPN20 and PRO-CTCAE) and functional assessments (Gait and Balance and 9 Hole Peg Test).

Results:

Exploratory comparisons between CIPN cases and controls indicate CIPN cases had shorter step length (P=.003), unique swaying acceleration patterns during a walking task, and shorter hand moving distance during a manual dexterity task.

Conclusions:

Our results confirm that remote CIPN assessment via a smartphone app is feasible and suggest that functional data may be indicative of CIPN manifestations in the hands and feet. Additional work is needed to determine which functional assessments are most indicative of CIPN and could be used for CIPN monitoring within clinical care.