Boston Scientific Corporation today released data reflecting experience from the first 15,000 patients monitored wirelessly on the Latitude Patient Management System. This event data represents the industry's largest experience with wireless remote monitoring of implantable cardiac devices. The Latitude Patient Management system can detect clinical events between scheduled follow-up visits and then send the clinical event data directly to physicians. Virtually all Boston Scientific ICD and CRT-D patients are eligible to be enrolled on Latitude. To date, more than 60,000 patients are enrolled on the system at more than 1,300 clinics across the United States.Of the nearly 106,000 monitoring months included in the 15,000-patient population, over a mean follow-up of seven months, the Latitude Patient Management system detected 948 patients with at least one event of sustained atrial arrhythmia for more than 24 hours. Patients with atrial fibrillation, particularly those with heart failure, are at risk of stroke. By identifying this arrhythmia earlier, physicians can intervene with treatments to lessen this risk. The Latitude Patient Management system also detected 1,516 patients who received at least one event of shock therapy for potentially life threatening arrhythmias.
"Remote monitoring between regularly scheduled follow-ups may enable clinicians to observe these events sooner in their device patients, which gives physicians the option to intervene earlier," said Mark A. Silver, M.D., director, Heart Failure Institute, Advocate Christ Medical Center, Oak Lawn, IL. "Equally important is regular monitoring of a patient's weight and blood pressure, which are key indicators of potential heart failure in patients." Heart failure has an annual direct cost of more than $26 billion in the U.S.
Available as an optional component to the Latitude Patient Management system is the industry's first and only wireless weight scale and blood pressure cuff, which is aligned with the ACC/AHA physician society guidelines that recommend monitoring weight and blood pressure. Latitude also offers custom views with relevant clinical data to both the implanting and health care following physicians. This feature, combined with passive event notification, is designed to improve patient care.
