Abstract
The capacity of specialised centres to cope with the requirements of all patients suffering with lifelong chronic diseases, such as inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD), is often limited. The main reasons are the increasing incidence of Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis, and the higher proportion of more severe IBD cases requiring complex care.
Currently, there are various ways to facilitate communication between patients and IBD centres, such as web interfaces, virtual clinics, video communication, smartphones and e-mail. Application of these and other technological modalities in medicine is referred to as telemedicine and it has recently become a topic in many discussions and investigations.
There is evidence that telemedicine is feasible, beneficial and cost-effective for clinicians, patients and the healthcare system. This article reports recent trials and reviews discussing the current and future role of telemedicine or eHealth in IBD management, and discusses how it could be implemented and used in daily clinical practice.