From Innovation to Implementation: Entrepreneurial Mobile Health Solutions for Remote Monitoring of Head and Neck Cancer Patients

Abstract

The rising incidence of head and neck cancer (HNC) underscores the urgent need for innovative, patientcentred surveillance strategies after treatment. While traditional follow-up remains clinically useful, it often fails to detect symptoms early and burdens patients with frequent hospital visits, contributing to lower quality of life, delayed interventions, and increased emergency care. Mobile health (mHealth) applications provide a transformative solution by enabling continuous, remote monitoring of clinical metrics and patient-reported outcomes (PROs). Evidence from systematic reviews, randomized controlled trials, and implementation studies highlights their feasibility and effectiveness in improving symptom management, reducing unnecessary hospital visits, and enhancing patient self-care. Beyond clinical benefits, mHealth tools offer significant opportunities for entrepreneurship and innovation. The development of scalable, evidence-based platforms can foster collaboration among healthcare professionals, software developers, and health-tech startups. Such initiatives align clinical priorities with technological innovation, creating sustainable models of survivorship care while stimulating economic growth. This paper synthesizes current evidence, evaluates best practices for design and deployment, and examines the dual role of mHealth applications as both clinical tools and entrepreneurial ventures. By bridging healthcare and innovation, mHealth has the potential to transform post-treatment cancer care into a more efficient, patient-centred, and economically sustainable system.