(PresseBox) BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring® received strong endorsements during the Cardiostim scientific session “Improving Patient Outcomes in Arrhythmia Management.”
Every year, more than a million new patients worldwide receive a pacemaker, ICD, or CRT-D implant, pointing to the need for efficient monitoring and follow-up. Experts highlighted that Home Monitoring reduces mortality1 and hospitalization,2 while also reducing health care costs.3,4
“Efficient workflow and robust transmissions are critical to leveraging the benefits of remote monitoring,” said Dr. Niraj Varma, Cleveland Clinic, US. “BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring facilitates this with daily automatic transmissions that preserve the highest order of data integrity, and are yet easy to handle. This is a key reason why this system has been associated with improved clinical outcomes in several trials and why current remote monitoring guidelines are based largely on Home Monitoring data.”
Speakers also discussed the rising importance of using remote monitoring with insertable cardiac monitors (ICMs) to enable earlier diagnosis and prevention in patients who have arrhythmias, but are not yet indicated for a pacemaker or ICD. As one example, there are currently an estimated 10 million atrial fibrillation patients in Europe alone.5
“We have strong data on the clinical benefits of remote monitoring and ICMs,” said Dr. Jan Steffel, University Hospital Zurich, Switzerland. “There are certainly reasons to explore future indications in addition to atrial fibrillation, something the BIOGUARD-MI study6 is currently looking at. These could include ventricular tachycardia, atrial fibrillation after myocardial infarction, and heart failure. I expect the need for ICMs and remote monitoring will continue to rise.”
Finally, attendees got a closer look at the first-in-human study of BioMonitor 2, BIOTRONIK’s new ICM. The pilot study showed that the heart monitor can be inserted in as little as two minutes. It also observed high R-wave amplitudes and a greater than 90 percent success rate for daily Home Monitoring transmissions.
“For ICMs to have a significant impact on early arrhythmia diagnosis, reliable detection including sensing, data quality and transmission is critical,” commented Dr. Sze-Yuan Ooi, Prince of Wales Hospital, Sydney, Australia. “This study shows promising results for BioMonitor 2 in all of these fields. The high transmission success rate is key because we need robust, high-integrity data for our patients to derive the maximum benefit.”
About BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring
BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring transmits patient heart data automatically on a daily basis, thereby rapidly detecting deterioration in a patient’s clinical status. Early detection of clinically relevant events, in particular paroxysmal and asymptomatic arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation, enables the physician to adapt patient therapy at a very early stage. Home Monitoring supported follow-up also helps to lower costs and streamline workflow.
References:
1 Hindricks G et al. The Lancet. 2014, 384(9943).
2 Varma V et al. Circulation. 2010, 122(4).
3 Guedon-Moreau L et al. Europace. 2014, 16(8).
4 Heidbuchel H et al. Presentation at ESC Congress 2014.
5 Zoni-Berisso M et al. Clin Epidemiol. 2014, 6.
6 BIOTRONIK Home Monitoring in patients with preserved left ventricular function after diagnosed acute myocardial infarction.
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