Sep 15 2014
A new, miniaturized, wireless sensor that helps heart failure patients better monitor their condition and avoid hospitalizations is now available at North Shore University Hospital -- the first hospital on Long Island to implant the monitor and only the fourth in the US.
Heart failure occurs when the heart does not adequately pump blood to the rest of the body. More than five million Americans have heart failure, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and more than 650,000 new cases are diagnosed each year.
The CardioMEMS device, created by St. Jude Medical and approved by the US Food & Drug Administration, is a sensor placed in the pulmonary artery in a non-surgical procedure. The sensor monitors the pressure in the lungs and detects deterioration in the patient's heart long before there are changes in blood pressure and weight. Thanks to the early warning, the patient's medication can be changed immediately to correct the problem and prevent the need for a hospital readmission. The sensor transmits this information to the physician's office every day – including doctors' mobile phones and laptops -- to help proactively manage a patient's heart failure.
"This innovative device will help keep people with heart failure aware of their changing condition and out of the hospital because their heart failure can be more adequately monitored from the comfort of their home," said Stanley Katz, MD, senior vice president of cardiovascular services for the North Shore-LIJ Health System.
"We are elated to offer this to our patients so their heart failure can be better managed," said Rita Jermyn, MD, director of the hospital's heart failure program, who implanted the first device with the assistance of fellow cardiologist Loukas Boutis, MD.
The CardioMEMS device is designed to last the lifetime of the patient and does not require batteries. Data from a clinical trial showed that the CardioMEMS system reduced heart failure hospital admissions by up to 37 percent.
For more information about CardioMEMS, contact North Shore University Hospital's Department of Cardiology at 516-562-2351.