Woman receives world's first wireless pacemaker

[sukishan]

A woman in New York has received the world's first pacemaker with a wireless home monitoring system that transmits critical information to her doctor via the internet.

Carol Kasyjanski, 61, has relied on a pacemaker for 20 years due to a severe heart condition, but was fitted with the wireless device three weeks ago.
Now about 90 per cent of the work has already been done when she goes for a check-up because her doctor has checked her data on his computer.

Ms Kasyjanski says the device has given her renewed confidence and a new lease of life, because it is more likely to alert the doctor if there are any problems with it.

'Years ago the problem was with my (pacemarker) lead, it was damaged, and until I collapsed no one knew what the problem was, no tests would show what the problem was until I passed out,' she said.

Dr Steven Greenberg, the director of St. Francis' Arrhythmia and Pacemaker Center, said the new technology helps him better treat his patients and will likely become the new standard in pacemakers.
He said the server and the remote monitor communicate at least once a day to download all the relevant information and alert the doctor and patient if there is anything unusual.

'If there is anything abnormal, and we have a very intricate system set up, it will literally call the physician responsible at two in the morning if need be,' he said.

The wireless pacemaker, made by St Jude Medical Inc, received approval from the U.S  Food and Drug Administration in July.

'It is a tremendous convenience for the patient from even interacting with a telephone to call the doctor,' he said.

'On a larger scale it enhances our ability to pick up and evaluate any problems with their pacemaker and certain other rhythm disorders that could be potentially dangerous or life threatening in ways we really could not do before.'


Kasyjanski, an account clerk, said she was frightened to be the first to be implanted with the device, but now feels relief, knowing that her heart is under constant surveillance.
'Deep down I feel like I have gotten another chance,' she said.

'Right now I feel like this is a new lease on life and I am here for my two children and my grandchildren and, God willing, I will be here for many more years to come.'

There are more than three million people internationally with pacemakers and 600,000 more are implanted each year.

Dr Greenberg said wireless technology was likely to become far more common in patient care, and give physicians time to focus more on their patients as opposed to routine tests.
'In the future, these pacemakers may be placed not just for people with slow heartbeats. We may be monitoring high blood pressure, we may be measuring glucose, we may be monitoring heart failure,' he said.

'There are literally dozens of physiological parameters that now, with this wireless technology, we can leverage for the future of monitoring. So it is not just a rhythm monitor but a disease monitor.'