For some time now there has been a so-called home monitoring system that works via mobile phone network. If the device detects an anomaly, it contacts a data centre, from where detailed information on the current situation of the heart is transmitted directly to the doctor's screen. This is very practical for the monitored patient, as he or she does not have to do anything themselves. Everything happens automatically and, above all, worldwide. Until now, the patient had to laboriously dial in via an analog line and transmit the data.
The system is also especially suitable for patients who perhaps only get black before their eyes a few times a year and for whom no doctor has yet found out what is going on because 24-hour ECGs have always missed the events. With the biomonitor, the patient reports when the aforementioned symptoms such as dizziness, blackening, etc. occur and the doctor can analyse what has happened remotely. This is a considerable relief for the patient, because the way to the clinic is usually too far and the attack is already over by then.
What is the advantage for the physician with the new Biomonitor? PD Dr. David Hürlimann: "You find out much faster that something is wrong with the patient. Even if the patient himself does not even notice that an incident has taken place. This is often the case with atrial fibrillation or other cardiac arrhythmias. In the event of an anomaly, the device dials itself into the radio network and transmits the data. Fully automatic. Home monitoring can also be used to check the functioning of other devices such as implanted defibrillators or pacemakers. For example, the physician learns whether an ICD patient has suffered a shock and registers the event that led to it. If something is suspicious, we can call the patient to the clinic very quickly. In the other direction, the patient can be reassured if he unnecessarily has the feeling that something is wrong".
Which patients are particularly suitable for remote monitoring? PD Dr. Hürlimann: "In most cases it is patients with heart failure who wear a defibrillator. Then there are pacemaker patients who have no rhythm of their own at all without a pacemaker. In these cases it is important to have such monitoring in place, because you want to know early on if a pacemaker electrode is defective, for example.
Where is the small 'computer' placed? PD Dr. Hürlimann: "It goes under the skin below the collarbone, in the same place as normal pacemakers." A difficult procedure? "No, it's an outpatient procedure and only takes 20 to 30 minutes. Then the patient stays under observation for two to three hours and then he can go home. The device has no electrodes in the blood vessels and is completely harmless. With this technology, we have already detected arrhythmias in patients who were without a heartbeat for 10 seconds, so that, with the right diagnosis, they could be fitted with a pacemaker.
