Maarten van Egmond

139 The feasibility of telerehabilitation after surgery 6 CONCLUSIONS This study shows that patients are able to improve their functional status by doing functional exercises in their own meaningful environment supported by telerehabilitation and tablet use with distant guidance from an experienced physiotherapist. The feasibility of the physiotherapeutic intervention with telerehabilitation for this specific patient category has implications for (re) organizing postoperative physiotherapeutic care in the patient’s home environment. Telerehabilitation cannot replace face-to-face physiotherapy as physical examination remains necessary, but taking into account positive adherence rates and satisfaction, we strongly suggest considering this way of treatment delivery for patients with esophageal cancer treated with surgery and suffering from postoperative complications, especially in the first 6 weeks after T0. We also recommend to investigate the potential cost-effectiveness of telerehabilitation compared with usual care. Although we found equal functional status outcomes in both the intervention group and the historical comparison group T2, we suggest performing a randomized controlled trial to draw firm conclusions on its effectiveness. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The authors would like to acknowledge Sander Steenhuizen, PT, and Sven Geelen, PT, MSc, for recruiting participants and performing measurements. The authors would also like to acknowledge Physitrack, who provided their services for this research project free of charge without being involved in the design, execution, analysis, and conclusions of this research. ETHICAL APPROVAL The Medical Ethics Committee of the Amsterdam University Medical Centers provided ethical approval for this study (NL58388.018.16). FUNDING This work was supported by a doctoral grant for teachers (023.003.016) in 2014 by the Dutch Research Council (Nederlandse organisatie voor Wetenschappelijk Onderzoek).