The medical supplies firm, Biotronik has announced the first implantation of the Stratos LV-T - a heart pacemaker that comes with a GSM phone built inside. The pacemaker system with Home Monitoring function was implanted in a 42-year-old male patient with severe congestive heart failure on January 10, 2005 at the Free University of Amsterdam, Netherlands. The operation was performed under the direction of Dr. Carel de Cock, the Director of Cardiology.
Stratos LV-T automatically transmits cardiac data via SMS over a GSM network.
"The combination of proven CRT functions with the innovative Home Monitoring technology promises to be a true breakthrough in the heart failure treatment," said Dr. de Cock after the operation. "Implants such as the Stratos LV-T enable us to quickly respond to the current status of our severely ill patients. As recent studies have shown, continuous monitoring of heart failure patients significantly decreases hospitalization and mortality rates."
Biotronik's integration of remote data transmission into the already well-established three-chamber pacemaker Stratos expands the options for congestive heart failure therapy. "Home Monitoring is increasingly proving to be a hope for the affected patients - as well as an important factor of therapy management and cost reduction in health care. We see ourselves as a pioneer of this progressive technology. In the not too distant future, it will be the standard in cardiac resynchronization therapy," remarks Dr. Werner Braun, Managing Director of Biotronik, and he adds: "Shortly after we launched the Kronos LV-T, the worldwide first CRT ICD with Home Monitoring, we have now taken an important step towards completing our portfolio in this area."
Via Biotronik Home Monitoring, the Stratos LV-T transmits important data about heart rate and patient activity, as well as parameters used for early detection of atrial fibrillation. The Stratos LV-T uses three independent channels to synchronize the activity of the heart chambers - and significantly improves the patient's hemodynamics. As a unique CRT system, the implant also offers three pacing algorithms for the prevention of atrial fibrillation, which is a common co-morbidity of heart failure.
The Stratos LV-T is scheduled for market release in the first quarter of this year. The implant will be included in the Home Care study, just as the Kronos LV-T is now. The objective of this project is to establish the parameters transmitted by Home Monitoring as risk predictors and subsequently prove a decrease of the hospitalization rate."
Posted to the site on 3rd February 2005
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