Heart Experts Seek Better Monitoring of Patients With Implantable Electronics

KEYWORDS:
• DEFIBRILLATORS, IMPLANTABLE
• DEVICES, MEDICAL
• EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES
• HEART DISEASES
• HOME MONITORING
• PACEMAKER, ARTIFICIAL
• TELEMEDICINE

Although millions of individuals worldwide are living with implantable cardiac devices, physicians have lacked a blueprint for the best way to monitor patients with these complex devices. To fill that gap, the Heart Rhythm Society and the European Heart Rhythm Association have issued guidance for the monitoring of these electronic tools.

An expert consensus has been issued giving physicians guidance in monitoring patients with implantable cardiac devices, such as pacemakers and defibrillators.

(Photo credit: Edward Kinsman/www.sciencesource.com)

The expert consensus, announced May 14 in San Francisco at the Heart Rhythm Society's annual Scientific Session, is intended to help physicians provide optimal care when treating patients with pacemakers, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs), cardiac resynchronization devices, implantable loop recorders, and implantable cardiovascular monitors (http://www.hrsonline.org/Policy/ClinicalGuidelines/upload/cieds_guidelines.pdf). The authors of this document coined a new acronym, CIEDs (pronounced “seeds”), for cardiovascular implantable electronic devices, to include the growing variety of tools being placed in patients to improve …