title: Remote telemonitoring for patients with heart failure: might monitoring pulmonary artery pressure become routine?
abstract: Heart failure is one of the most important medical problems facing societies in developed economies and its prevalence is predicted to rise inexorably in the next few decades as longevity increases. Worsening heart failure leading to hospitalization is associated with a poor prognosis and imposes a substantial burden on health care resources and budgets. Interventions that can stabilize patients should reduce the need for hospitalization and improve prognosis. This might be facilitated by frequent self-monitoring of clinical and physiological variables by patients themselves at home. Rising pulmonary artery pressure is an early sign of cardiac decompensation that may be more sensitive than conventional methods of patient assessment and thus allow early adjustment of medical therapy to avoid hospitalizations and improve patient outcomes. Remote monitoring of pulmonary artery pressure is now possible using devices that can be implanted percutaneously. This innovative technology could become a routine part of the management of heart failure in the next few decades.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, Hull York Medical School, Hull and East Yorkshire Medical Research and Teaching Centre, Castle Hill Hospital, Cottingham, Kingston upon Hull, HU16 5JQ, UK.
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hutchinson
authors.forename: Pierpaolo
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Pellicori
authors.forename: Riet
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Dierckx
authors.forename: John G F
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Cleland
authors.forename: Andrew L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Clark
mesh_terms: D001794:Blood Pressure; D001795:Blood Pressure Determination; D018660:Blood Pressure Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods*; D006333:Heart Failure / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D018670:Monitoring, Ambulatory / Q000379:methods; D011379:Prognosis; D011651:Pulmonary Artery; D012648:Self Care / Q000379:methods; D017216:Telemedicine / Q000379:methods*
keywords: heart failure; implant; invasive; pulmonary hypertension; pulmonary pressure; telemonitoring