Background Lung transplantation is the final option for end-stage respiratory diseases. Postoperative monitoring of patients’ physical condition and performance of appropriate interventions for any abnormalities are important to improve the long-term success of lung transplantation. In Japan, patients’ handwritten self-management charts are widely used to record data for home spirometry, vital signs, and medication dosages. However, handwritten data are not suitable for assessment. We developed an internet-based real-time monitoring system (LT-FollowUp) that can easily assess patient data and detect any abnormalities that arise without delay. The aim of this pilot study was to examine the acceptability of LT-FollowUp to patients.

Methods This was a prospective single-arm pilot cohort study. Lung transplant patients were recruited consecutively at regular outpatient visits from October 2020. Patients were instructed to enter their self-measurements (pulmonary functions and vital signs) and immunosuppressant dosages twice a day.

Acceptability was assessed by the data filling rate. The changes in filling rate over time were evaluated using a linear mixed-effects model for repeated measurements.

Results A total of 19 patients were included in the study. There were no significant differences in the filling rates between the handwritten charts and LT-FollowUp.

Conclusion LT-FollowUp is an acceptable system for patients. Further development of the LT-FollowUp system may lead to better long-term clinical outcomes of lung transplantation.

The authors have declared no competing interest.

This study was funded by grants-in-aid for scientific research from KAKENHI (21K16508)

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The details of the IRB/oversight body that provided approval or exemption for the research described are given below:

This study was approved by the Ethics Committee of The University of Tokyo (2020156NI).

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All data produced in the present study are available upon reasonable request to the authors.