title: Design of the Pacemaker REmote Follow-up Evaluation and Review (PREFER) trial to assess the clinical value of the remote pacemaker interrogation in the management of pacemaker patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Although pacemakers are primarily used for the treatment of bradycardia, diagnostic data available in current pacemakers allow them to be also used as sophisticated, continuous monitoring devices. Easy access to these stored data may assist clinicians in making diagnostic and therapeutic decisions sooner, thus avoiding potential long-term sequelae due to untreated clinical disorders. Internet-based remote device interrogation systems provide clinicians with frequent and complete access to stored data in pacemakers. In addition to monitoring device function, remote monitors may be a helpful tool in assisting physicians in the management of common arrhythmia disorders.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Pacemaker REmote Follow-up Evaluation and Review (PREFER) trial is a prospective, randomized, parallel, unblinded, multicenter, open label clinical trial to determine the utility of remote pacemaker interrogation in the earlier diagnosis of clinically actionable events compared to the existing practice of transtelephonic monitoring. There have been 980 patients enrolled and randomized to receive pacemaker follow up with either remote interrogation using the Medtronic CareLink(R) Network (CareLink) versus the conventional method of transtelephonic monitoring (TTM) in addition to periodic in-person interrogation and programming evaluations. The purpose of this manuscript is to describe the design of the PREFER trial. The results, to be presented separately, will characterize the number of clinically actionable events as a result of pacemaker follow-up using remote interrogation instead of TTM.
  
  
  BACKGROUND
  ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT00294645.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Cardiovascular Division, Washington University School of Medicine, Saint Louis, Missouri, USA. janechen@im.wustl.edu
authors.forename: Jane
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Bruce L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Wilkoff
authors.forename: Wassim
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Choucair
authors.forename: Todd J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Cohen
authors.forename: George H
authors.initials: GH
authors.lastname: Crossley
authors.forename: W Ben
authors.initials: WB
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: Luc R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Mongeon
authors.forename: Gerald A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Serwer
authors.forename: Lou
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sherfesee