Implantable defib alerts heart doctor

WASHINGTON, Aug 29, 2005 (United Press International via COMTEX) -- A new cardiac device approved by the Food and Drug Administration will shock a heart that is beating irregularly back into normal rhythm and also notify the patient's doctor wirelessly about the condition.

The device, called the Lumos DR-T, also sends daily readouts of cardiac activity to a secure Web site, allowing physicians to monitor non-hospitalized heart patients 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Manufactured by Biotronik, a German firm with U.S. headquarters in Lake Oswego, Ore., the device is an implantable cardioverter defibrillator.

ICDs have been used for a number of years to correct life-threatening arrhythmias. What makes this one different is its ability to communicate with medical personnel.

After the Lumos DR-T is implanted in the chest, it connects to a small transmitter than can be placed on a nightstand, worn on a belt or kept in a purse or pocket -- but it must be no more than 6 feet from the patient in order to work.

When a problem occurs, even if the patient is unaware of it, a microchip in the ICD sends a signal to the transmitter, which contacts a satellite and sends a record of the event similar to an electrocardiogram to the doctor.

Physicians can program the device to report on a variety of specific problems and send those reports via e-mail, cell phone, fax or pager.

"The patient doesn't have to press a button or call the doctor to activate the system," said Dr. Niraj Varma, the cardiologist who implanted the first Lumos DR-T into a patient on Aug. 26 and who serves as an adviser to Biotronik. "This is an important advance in cardiac care because many life-threatening arrhythmias are silent."

Varma also is an associate professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. He told UPI most patients with cardiac arrhythmias are monitored with office visits every three to six months. Around half of them have experienced a significant cardiac event during that time gap, but their physicians usually do not learn about the problem until they perform an ECG at the patient's next appointment.

When people with limited mobility or who reside in rural areas miss their appointments because of bad weather, keeping them healthy becomes even more difficult.

If an arrhythmia actually causes the heart to stop beating, the new device will shock it back to life. The patient's physician is contacted immediately. A full record of the event is sent, including the ECG-like picture of the arrhythmia, how much energy was delivered to the heart to make it start and how much the heart resisted the prompt. If the device breaks down, the physician is contacted as well.

During the implantation surgery, Varma connected the ICD to the Internet via a computer station placed in the operating room. To test the system, Varma and colleagues stopped the patient's heart and allowed the DR-T to start it again. Notification of the event appeared on the computer monitor within minutes.

Dr. Haroon Rashid, a cardiac electrophysiologist and assistant professor of medicine in the Division of Cardiology at Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, said the DR-T could become a useful addition to cardiac care.

"If this device works in real clinical scenarios, it will help physicians respond more rapidly to life-threatening arrhythmias and make better management decisions for patients with implanted defibrillators," Rashid, who is not connected with the device, told UPI.

Varma said Biotronik also manufactures pacemakers, and one model allows patients who feel unwell to contact their doctor by holding a magnet over the device. He said engineers at Biotronik are hoping to add this feature to the DR-T in the near future.

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Astara March covers healthcare matters for UPI. E-mail: sciencemail@upi.com