Patients take heart

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Heart patients in the US may soon be fitted with a defibrillator that automatically signals a doctor via wireless satellite transmission if their heart beats abnormally or if the device malfunctions.

In a major advance for heart patients,

is the first hospital in the

to implant into a patient a new FDA-approved defibrillator which automatically signals the doctor via wireless satellite transmission if the patient’s heart beats abnormally or if the device malfunctions.

When a patient’s status changes, a built-in microchip of Biotronik’s Lumos DR-T implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) sends a signal to a satellite via a small transmitter that can be placed on a nightstand, worn on a belt or kept in a handbag.

In addition, Biotronik’s Home Monitoring system almost instantaneously sends a beat-by-beat record (similar to an electrocardiogram (ECG)) of any heart rhythm abnormality which the doctor can view on a secure website.

“The patient doesn’t have to press any button or call the doctor to activate the system,” said cardiac electrophysiologist Dr. Niraj Varma, associate professor of medicine, division of cardiology, Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine, and director of the cardiac electrophysiology lab, Loyola University Health System, Maywood, Ill.

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