NATICK, MA – Data released last week by Boston Scientific Corporation reported the success of wireless remote monitoring technology in managing cardiac patients with the company’s wireless LATITUDE patient management system. The data is based on the first 15,000 patients monitored with Boston Scientific’s LATITUDE patient management system.
All the patients have implantable cardiac devices. To date, this data represents the industry’s largest experience with the remote monitoring of such devices. The LATITUDE patient management system is able to detect clinical events between a patient’s scheduled follow-up visits and then send the clinical event data directly to the physician.
Over the course of 106,000 monitoring months, and out of a 15,000-patient population with an average follow-up of seven months, the system detected 948 patients with at least one event of sustained atrial arrhythmia for more than 24 hours. "Remote monitoring between regularly scheduled follow-ups may enable clinicians to observe these events sooner in their device patients, which gives physicians the option to intervene earlier," said Mark A. Silver, M.D. , director of the Heart Failure Institute at Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn, IL.
The LATITUDE patient management system also detected 1,516 patients who received at least one event of shock therapy for potentially life threatening arrhythmias. "Equally important is regular monitoring of a patient's weight and blood pressure, which are key indicators of potential heart failure in patients," Silver said. Remote wireless weight scale and blood pressure cuffs are an optional feature of the LATITUDE system.
Currently, more than 60,000 patients are enrolled on the system at more than 1,300 clinics across the United States.
Source : Healthcare IT News By Molly Merrill, Contributing Writer 09/17/07
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