An interesting study recently published in the Journal of Pediatrics shows that sending text message reminders may be an effective way to make young liver transplant recipients take their immunosuppressive medications regularly and on time. This was a small one-year study of 41 patients with a median age of 15. The study investigators saw a significant improvement in medication compliance after a year of sending regular text messages to patients or their caregivers. They measured adherence to tacrolimus (Prograf) and/or sirolimus (Rapamune).
The increase in adherence to medications was followed by a drop in the number of “histologically proven acute cellular rejection episodes,” from 12 in the year before the study to two after one year of receiving the reminders.
Small study but I’ve also noticed a trend towards better compliance in my patients using secure email, instant messaging, and video chat to communicate with them between–and in appropriate cases instead of–office visits.
