U.S. Woman Gets Web-Ready Pacemaker

[sukishan]

Carol Kasyjanski has lived with a severe heart condition for 20 years. Until recently, she's lived her life, often in fear, in strict obedience to the condition's limitations. Now, though, a medical breakthrough has given the woman a chance to live her life on her own terms.

Kasyjanski is the first American to receive a wireless-equipped pacemaker, according to Reuters. The device gives her much more freedom, since her doctor can electronically monitor critical information; it's downloaded to his computer at least once a day. If the pacemaker were to stop, or if any stats were abnormal, Dr. Steven Greenberg would be immediately notified via wireless communication, and could act accordingly. Also, the wireless pacemaker allows Kasyjanski to get in and out of the doctor's office much more quickly since Greenberg already has most of the information he needs before meeting with the patient face to face.

This is certainly good news for the 3 million-plus people with pacemakers around the world. Greenberg told Reuters that if this device works well, wireless technology could become much more commonplace in health care -- from monitoring blood pressure to cutting down the number of tests a patient undergoes during a checkup