Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare > Volume 14, Number 6 > Pp. 290-294

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RESEARCH Original articles

Assessment of a remote monitoring system for implantable cardioverter defibrillators

Cristina Masella ^*, Paolo Zanaboni ^* , Francesca Di Stasi , Serena Gilardi , Patrizia Ponzi  and Sergio Valsecchi 

^* Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Milan; Medtronic, Italy

Correspondence: Paolo Zanaboni, Department of Management, Economics and Industrial Engineering, Politecnico di Milano, Piazza Leonardo da Vinci 32, 20133 Milan, Italy (Fax: +39 02 2399 4083; Email: paolo.zanaboni{at}polimi.it)

We conducted a multicentre study in five Italian hospitals to assess the feasibility of a remote monitoring service for the follow-up of implanted cardiac devices. The system was designed to monitor device performance as well as physiological aspects of the patient's condition. Sixty-seven patients (mean age 64 years) affected by chronic heart failure and with a biventricular implantable cardioverter defibrillator for cardiac re-synchronization therapy (CRT-D) were enrolled for a three-month observation period. A total of 267 device recordings were transmitted through the ordinary telephone network, with a success rate of 99%. The telemonitoring service was more efficient than conventional face-to-face follow-up in terms of the time savings: both for physicians (4.7 minutes versus 15 minutes for remote and conventional monitoring) and for patients (6.6 minutes versus 116.3 minutes). In addition, a total of 23 clinical events occurred during the study, but only two cases required a clinic visit, thus reducing inappropriate hospital admissions. Finally, the service was well accepted by all the users.

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