BACKGROUND: Treatment of advanced-stage idiopathic Parkinson's disease (PD) is a 
demanding challenge, and in Germany, medication regimen adjustments are often 
made during inpatient stays. Admissions often follow an acute worsening of 
symptoms and functioning. In order to reduce long and expensive inpatient stays, 
and to provide more frequent consultations, a 24/7 live stream telemedicine home 
treatment service was established.
METHODS: A pilot study was conducted in which laptops were distributed to 50 
patients for 1 year to see whether such a service was feasible (in terms of 
patient participation and compliance) and whether this intervention affected the 
patient's condition, measured in UPDRS, Mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE), 
39-item Parkinson's Disease Questionnaire (PDQ39), and H & Y Scale.
RESULTS: Seventy-two percent (36) of the patients were compliant and did not 
experience technical issues. Patients lived, on average, 198 ± 183 km away from 
the specialist clinic. In total, 264 video conversations took place with 6.9 ± 
7.2 (0-29) calls per patient. We found a significant improvement in PDQ39 
scores, but not in UPDRS, MMSE, or H & Y scores, at 1 year.
CONCLUSIONS: Our data shows that 24/7 live stream telemedicine is feasible and 
can help to improve quality of life. However, a detailed preliminary review of 
the patient's willingness to use such a service should be made to obtain the 
best results. Improvement of the technical setup and network coverage would 
facilitate an improved service and increase efficiency.