title: The value of permanent follow-up of implantable pacemakers--first results of an European trial.
abstract: A clinical study investigates the use of Home Monitoring (HM) in pacemaker therapy. For 3 months patients are supervised by daily automatic HM messages. Endpoints are the technical feasibility and the clinical benefit of HM. Ninety three patients have currently been included and followed for 72 +/- 30 days. Three patients were excluded due to insufficient mobile net coverage at their living sites. For the other patients, 5311 of 5911 messages were successfully registered. Interrupts in the sequence of messages occurred 331 times. Two hundred ten of these (63%) lasted just 1 day, 14 interrupts (4%) lasted 5 or more days. Two patients did not show any interrupts, 34 patients (38%) had interrupts of 3 and more days. The clinical benefit of Home Monitoring was found in the remote detection of arrhythmia and lead dislocation.
authors.affiliation: Biotronik GmbH, Technology & Service Center, Erlangen, Germany. karsten.wallbrueck@biotronik-erlangen.de
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Wallbrück
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Stellbrink
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Santini
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gill
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hartmann
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wunderlich
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D003195:Computer Communication Networks / Q000295:instrumentation*; D003625:Data Collection; D015716:Electrocardiography, Ambulatory / Q000295:instrumentation*; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis / Q000295:instrumentation*; D005240:Feasibility Studies; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010138:Pacemaker, Artificial; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation; D013686:Telemetry / Q000295:instrumentation*