Wireless pacemaker implantation predicted to be first of many
Electrophysiologist Rick Henderson, MD, implanted one of the first wireless pacemakers in the country this week and while these initial devices to control abnormal heart rhythms are being reserved for certain patients, Henderson told Medical Device Daily that he expects to see the industry trend toward use of the advanced pacemakers for all patients.
"Our sentinel patient is a gentleman who required dual chamber pacing," said Henderson, who performed the procedure at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center's Heart Center (Winston-Salem, North Carolina). "He lives in a remote area of western North Carolina. The technology that St. Jude Medical (St. Paul, Minnesota) offered, this wireless capability, offers him daily access to a continuous monitor. No longer does he have to make the two-hour drive to have his device checked."
Henderson implanted the Accent RF pacemaker from St. Jude Medical, which was FDA approved just two months ago (Medical Device Daily, July 22, 2009). It features radio frequency (RF) telemetry that enables secure, wireless communication between the implanted device and the programmer used by the clinician or a home monitor.
The Accent RF transmits additional information about the patient's heart with greater frequency. Other features include AT/AF Alerts, AutoCapture Pacing System technology that measures the heart's reaction to pacing beat-by-beat and an algorithm that enables the heart's intrinsic rhythm to prevail when appropriate, thereby reducing unnecessary ventricular pacing. It reports 24 hours a day, even when the patient is asleep.
St. Jude Medical also just reported the European launch of the Merlin.net patient care network (PCN), a secure, Internet-based remote care system for patients with implanted medical devices, including the wireless pacemakers. Merlin.net PCN gathers and stores data from the implant procedure, in-clinic follow-up visits and from remote transmissions sent from a patient's home. Remote transmissions can include both patient-initiated and automatic follow-ups and monitoring transmissions sent via a Merlin@home remote transmitter (MDD, Sept. 9, 2009
Henderson said the implantation, in a man in his mid-60s in relatively good health, went well.