LuCApp and cancer patients: Benefits and limits of digital technologies

In recent years, the growing chronic nature of certain cancers, including lung cancer, has created a need for more continuous and patient-centered models of care. The use of oral and immunotherapy treatments has reduced the frequency of hospital visits, while increasing the importance of at-home monitoring. In this scenario, mobile apps for symptom self-management have become more widespread but often lack solid scientific evidence of their effectiveness.

The LuCApp research project aimed to assess, through a randomized clinical trial, whether an app designed with and for patients could improve quality of life, reduce anxiety and depression, and help contain healthcare costs.

The study involved 100 patients with unresectable lung cancer, enrolled in four Italian oncology centers between 2018 and 2022. Participants were randomly assigned to either the control group (standard care) or the experimental group (standard care + LuCApp). The app allowed users to monitor 21 symptoms, along with temperature and weight, generating automatic alerts to healthcare professionals when pre-set thresholds were exceeded. Researchers collected data through validated patient-reported questionnaires (FACT-L, HADS, EQ-5D-5L), as well as information on costs and qualitative interviews.

The main results show no significant difference in quality of life at 12 and 24 weeks between the two groups. However, the LuCApp group showed a reduction in anxiety, although not statistically significant, the trend was consistent. Moreover, patients who used the app reported fewer support needs, and caregivers experienced a lighter care burden. Average healthcare costs per patient were also lower in the LuCApp group (€2,900 vs. €3,720), although the difference was not statistically significant. Finally, qualitative interviews highlighted strong appreciation for the app’s interface and its perceived usefulness by patients.

Despite the absence of a significant impact on quality of life, LuCApp showed signs of effectiveness in reducing anxiety, increasing patient awareness and control, and offering potential cost savings.

For healthcare managers, this suggests that investing in well-designed digital solutions co-created with patients can yield tangible, albeit incremental, benefits.

For policymakers, it is a call to support rigorous experimentation and to integrate digital tools into clinical practice using evidence-based approaches. Future research could explore how to strengthen patient engagement and assess long-term effects on broader populations.

Pongiglione, B., Cucciniello, M., Petracca, F. et al. “A mobile supportive care app for patients with metastatic lung cancer: the Lung Cancer App (LuCApp) randomized controlled trial.” Support Care Cancer 33, 641 (2025). DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00520-025-09682-5.