X-Message-Number: 14981
From: <>
Date: Tue, 21 Nov 2000 14:47:59 +0100 (CET)
Subject: Implant monitors heart online

From Alabama Live,
http://www.al.com/news/birmingham/Nov2000/16-heart.html
-
Implant monitors heart online

DAVE PARKS
News staff writer
11/16/00

Researchers at UAB are studying an implant that allows a doctor to
check a patient's heart over the Internet.

The system is so effective that Dr. Robert Bourge, director of UAB's
division of cardiovascular disease, reported he was able to connect
one heart patient's shortness of breath with eating salty Chinese
food.

Bourge discussed the study, which is being conducted at 10 medical
centers including the University of Alabama at Birmingham, Wednesday
at the American Heart Association's 73rd annual Scientific Sessions in
New Orleans.

The small device, called the Chronicle, is implanted in the chest. It
monitors pressures on the left and right sides of the heart and in
arteries going to the lungs. This is critical because these pressures
rise when fluid builds up in the body, causing a reaction that can
damage the heart. Thus, people with heart disease are often restricted
to low-salt diets because salt retains fluid in their bodies.  A
patient with the Chronicle implant waves a wand containing a computer
chip over the chest. The computer gathers information from the
implant, and the patient sends the data by telephone to a secure
Internet site. A doctor goes to the site and checks on the patient's
heart function.

One of the biggest advantages of the Chronicle is its ability to
continuously sense and collect unique and valuable information,"
Bourge said in a prepared statement. This is such a milestone because
it allows us to continuously monitor the patient at home; and if their
pressures go up, we can intervene with adjustments in medication
before hospitalization is necessary."

Citing an example of its effectiveness, Bourge said one of his
patients was suffering from shortness of breath every Sunday
morning. A readout from the patient's implant showed a jump in
pressure that indicated a buildup of fluid.

We were able to determine that he and his girlfriend were eating
Chinese food every Saturday night, which has a very high sodium
content and caused the retention of fluid," Bourge said.

The Chronicle is being developed by Medtronic Inc. It is part of a
system to help people suffering from advanced heart failure. A study
of the implant's accuracy and safety started in 1999; further study is
expected to begin in 2001.

Last year, Medtronic announced the premarket approval by the Food and
Drug Administration of an implantable defibrillator to monitor, detect
and treat abnormally fast heart rhythms. 


  2000 The Birmingham News. Used with permission.

Rate This Message: http://www.cryonet.org/cgi-bin/rate.cgi?msg=14981